


Blossoms from the Ashes

by WildcatPacer



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildcatPacer/pseuds/WildcatPacer
Summary: I took my time on this one, mostly because I started in the middle of the story and then went back and filled in the first five or so chapters. Some major plot beats are inspired by the wonderful story Force Destiny, the best TLJ-compliant Episode IX there is. I also filled in the brushstrokes of one plot beat from that story, and added flairs of my own. I hope you all read, Review
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Original Male Character(s), Poe Dameron/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Why, God, Why?

**Chapter 1: Why, God, Why?**

The _Millennium Falcon_ was little more than a half day's journey from Crait. Seated on a shipping container back in Han Solo's former quarters, Rey of Jakku cradled the two broken halves of the Skywalker lightsaber the way one might cradle a baby.

To anyone who happened to pass by, the sight of a forlorn Jedi mourning a dangerous weapon might have been construed as odd. Yet it was what this asundered weapon represented that caused Rey to wallow all crestfallen.

This lightsaber represented all that could have gone right which had now gone wrong. A beautiful and bright promise now destroyed. Snuffed out. Just as the last little glimmer of Ben Solo, the Light in Ben Solo, had been snuffed out by the dark, siren song of power.

The moment the last Prateorian Guard fell, Rey's heart had swelled and beat with ectopic happiness, as she breathlessly anticipated that the moment she had worked towards - a moment she had subconsciously yearned for her entire life - was now at hand. The moment where Ben Solo would turn, and he would take her hand... and with his acceptance, Rey would finally find belonging. Love. A family.

But had that vision materialized? No. Instead, Ben had offered her his hand, still gloved. And with it, power. Protection, cloaked in the seductive yet suffocating blanket of possession. The love of a possessive kind.

But Rey did not want _power_. She did not want _protection_. Those were the offerings of Kylo Ren. All Rey wanted was understanding. Companionship. And chief of all... love - the offering of the man she wanted: Ben Solo. All she wanted was Ben Solo's love.

It had still been the hardest thing she ever had to do, refusing him. Going in a desperate grapple for the lightsaber. Leaving him unconscious on the _Supremacy_ and fleeing from him. And closing the door of the Falcon on him, wishing that the Bond be shut forever? That had been the hardest thing to do of all.

In her heart of hearts, she did not want the Bond to be shut forever. But she felt that she had little choice, or else be tormented in pining anguish over what could have been for the rest of her life. Besides, Snoke - the madman who had tortured her precious Ben, the monster who had supposedly conceived their union - was dead. Should the strange gift not die with the giver? Its creator?

No...

All at once, Rey felt that rush, that warm, tingling sensation vibrating at the back of her spine. In her head. Accompanied by the squelching of time and space, bringing them together across lightyears.

Across the stars...

Rey's traitorous body shivered in yearning delight, even as her eyes went wide, panic overtaking her emotionally exhausted brain and she whimpered.

"No... please..." she trembled. He couldn't see her like this. She refused to see him as he now was - a twisted version of his true, beautiful self. A nefarious imposter of her true, lost love, who _looked_ like her Ben, at times _sounded_ like her Ben but still was not him, as though he had been warped in a funhouse mirror. Standing, taking a shaky breath, Rey tried to flatten her face into one of stone as she turned to face her denied future, which would now only ever be the most bittersweet cap on her tragic past.

The first thing she noticed, upon turning to face him, was that the mask was back. The kriffing mask was once more imprisioning his handsome face. She nearly wailed. She wanted to scream at the black, obsidian device of horror as though it was a living thing - how _dare_ it hold her sweet darling captive! She felt a twisted satisfaction at the red streaks of congealed adhesive which were now holding the monstrous thing together, but it was hollow. A Pyrrhic victory. A reminder that while the darkness could be beaten back, it could come back stronger than ever if merely left for dead rather than having the life squeezed out of it. And now, Rey wanted to squeeze the life out of that mask just as tightly as the darkness had squeezed the life out of her sweet Ben.

The creature, Kylo Ren, tilted its head as it studied her.

"Do you really wish to hurt me? To defend the honor of one who cannot be helped?"

She glared at him defiantly.

"Go ahead," he encouraged, whispering like a lover after emerging from the entanglement of sheets and descending from the heights of passion. "Give in to your anger. Unleash it on me."

She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. The urge to kill the mask and everything attached to it was almost as strong as the urge that compelled her to simply rip the mask off and run into his arms and hold him. She wanted to yell and scream at him and give him a real dressing down - for using her, for leading her on, for dangling out all her deepest desires like a sweet treat only to rip it away at the last moment. She wanted to spit. She wanted to damn him.

Rey didn't do any of that. Instead, big, fat tears leaked from her dark brown eyes and slid down her cheeks, before her face scrunched up as sharp, punctuated sobs bubbled up from where they had been lodged in her throat. She wept quietly, ignoring the dwindling strength inside of her - now scolding her for coming apart like a cheap deck of Sabaac cards... and all over a boy.

Gods, why was she so _pathetic_? What had Ben Solo done to her? Whatever beauty and happiness he had blessed her with, she bitterly wished it gone, as she had once wished to have their Bond die in its cradle. Out, out, damn spot! Ben Solo had made her so weak, and she all at once wanted to wring his neck... and kiss his lips.

Kylo's presence passed over her thoughts just then, feeling simultaneously like a fleeting shadow and a lover's caress. Clamping down on her inner musings too late, Rey felt herself oddly blush. Her sobs turned into sniffles, but the sheen of moisture was still unyielding in her eyes, which now flashed as anger finally deigned to make an appearance.

"You _lied_ to me!" Rey wept. "You promised me that once Snoke was gone, you would come away with me, back to the Light! You promised me!"

"I've never lied to you, Rey," and despite that blasted voice modulator that made his timbre send chills through her body, his tone was oddly soothing. "But I also made you no promises. You saw the vision that I would turn and foretold it to me so. I'm afraid you took whatever the Force promised you and projected it onto me."

Rey nearly had to stagger to bear the weight of the truth... that he was right. Kylo or Ben or whoever he was had never explicitly promised her _anything_. Each had simply communicated to one another their firm conviction that one would turn to the other... and come away from that tender moment alone in the elevator believing that they both were right. That they both could be right.

Uncomfortable truths, however, have a way of making a believer double down, and this Rey now did. "Well, then, you did the same thing! You projected onto me your belief that I would be the one to turn!"

"And imagined or not, that promise? You still broke it!" Kylo hurled.

Rey leaned back, stung, a fresh wave of tears coming. For a parsec, she reached out her hand, then retracted it back.

"Let me see your face," she pleaded in a whisper.

No response. He moved not a tick. Rey wrestled down a sob. "Ben," she whispered. " _Please_."

She feared that in saying his true name, she had pushed him too far. But like before in the elevator, something about her speaking his true name on her lips seemed to reach him. Slowly, Kylo reached up and unclipped his mask. He paused there for a moment, his hands hovering as they framed his face.

A tiny moan escaped Rey's lips. "Ben," she crooned. "Take it off. _Please_ take it off." Another tear slipped down her cheek.

There was a click and a hiss, as finally, the cursed thing came off.

Ben's chiseled, striking face appeared and Rey let out another moan, this one of relief. He simply stared at her, with those same hang-dog, sorrowful, heartbroken eyes from the hangar bay... and Rey felt her heart cleave in two anew.

She broke down once more.

"Why did you leave me?" she sobbed.

Ben reflected her own tears back at her. "Why did _you_ leave _me_?" he agonized. Never, not even in the throne room, had he sounded so vulnerable.

"You were going down a path I couldn't follow!" Rey blubbered. "You were becoming a person I didn't want!"

Ben's eyes flashed with rage just then, and the sudden change made Rey's voice trail off in a frightened gasp and whimper. "What you want is something - someone - that can never be! The man you wish to take as your lover is _dead_! Ben Solo is no more!"

Rey groaned melancholically, squeezing her eyes tight. She nearly put her hands over her ears, to block out the blasphemy, but refrained. "I refuse to believe that!"

"Believe it, silly girl."

"No!" Rey yelped. "My sweetheart is alive!" She opened her eyes, gazing at him with steadfast determination. "And I know he's in there somewhere."

Kylo sneered. "Then content yourself to be a widow before you could even be a wife! Ben Solo is DEAD!"

"NOO!" Rey screamed in frustrated rage. The entirety of Han Solo's chambers seemed to vibrate with the sound, the Force amplifying it as the energy field too howled in protest.

Rey finally sank to her knees, all screamed out. Weeping quietly, she hugged herself, bemoaning her fate. Their fate. Were she and Ben truly doomed? It would seem so.

She felt his presence, hovering closer but not wanting to come too within reach, and through the Force Rey felt a soothing balm of... concern. Sniffling, she turned away from the warmth.

"I should have known you could never be anything but a _monster_!" Rey whispered fiercely through her tears.

To her bitter satisfaction, and unlike on that island down by the water, when he had agreed with her assessment, Rey felt her words pierce Ben. Like she had shanked him with a lightsaber. The squelching sound could be heard once more, and when she next glanced up... Ben was gone.

Before she could seize on the crazy impulse to apologize.

Bowing her head, Rey wept.


	2. Apologizing

**Chapter 2: Apologizing**

Rey could hardly concentrate over the next several days as she waited fitfully for the Bond to re-open. For him to reappear. She knew from past experience that the Bond she shared with the Supreme Leader was a fickle thing. It had a mind of its own. As each day blended into the next without any word, however, Rey began to be overcome by a paralyzed fear that Kylo had somehow found a way to shut the Bond off forever. He was both powerful in the Force, and knowledgeable, so she wouldn't have been surprised if he had found a way to close himself off from the phenomena, as his uncle had.

Two days passed to three. The third day blended into a fourth. In that interim, the last of the Resistance limped to the relatively isolated jungle moon of Ajara, known as Ajan Kloss. An old Rebel base sat abandoned there, obscured by the overgrown jungle vines.

While growing up on Jakku, Rey had always prided herself on her ability to mask her true emotions, even on the hardest days trekking through the sand dunes. She feared her argument with Kylo, however, had left her melancholy easily written all over her face. More than once, Finn had come up to her and asked if she was all right. Rey had presented him with a fake smile and assured him that she was just tired. It wasn't clear whether or not he believed her. Even Leia at one point took the young Jedi woman aside and probed into her well-being. Again, Rey had assured the General that she was fine, just tired, but it had hurt her heart to lie. Leia had let the matter go, but still Rey feared: did Leia know? Had the Force whispered to her of its design in joining her begotten son with a lowly desert scavenger who now remained the last, best hope for the galaxy?

The abandoned rebel base was expansive enough, and there was such a depletion of people, that there was plenty enough space to go around for living quarters. Being a girl of very simple tastes, and never having needed much, Rey simply took a single room on the far edge of base where she could be alone. The loneliness had plagued her on Jakku, and she was heartily relieved to now have friends, but in her depression, she understood that there would come moments where she just wanted to be alone. To meditate and study the Force, but more often to mourn Ben.

It was late night on the seventh day, after the evening meal, and Rey was just about to prepare for bed when...

The squelching sound precluding the blurring of time and space reached her ears, she felt a fluttering in her belly, right behind her navel that seemed to pull her to -

She turned around, and there he was, studying her through his visor.

Rey tamped down the sob that lodged in her throat, and she cocked a ruffled eyebrow, attempting to look displeased. "Still wearing that mask, I see?"

Kylo shifted from foot to foot. "Would you prefer it if I took it off?" His tone was strangely... conciliatory. Almost gentlemanly.

Rey blinked, taken aback, but heartened too. "Yes, please." Her voice was small, and she wanted to curse herself for sounding like a child scrounging for portions.

Kylo moved to obey her... when the sob stuck in her windpipe partially burst free.

"Wait."

Hearing the strain in her voice, Kylo halted. He watched, almost transfixed, as Rey drifted over to him, nearly floated. Big brown eyes wide and curious, she lifted up trembling hands - dainty little hands with the softest fingers Kylo had ever seen or felt. Tentatively, Rey lifted the visor from his face.

As soon as it was free of the wavy black locks of hair that tumbled down to his shoulders, Rey cast the thing aside, not bothering to glance to where it fell. Her gaze remained impossibly gentle, almost angelic, her lips slightly parted as her fingers reached to softly touch his face. For his part, Kylo's dark eyes were doleful, tender... but heartbroken.

"Gloves, too." Rey's request was but a whisper. Between them, Kylo moved quickly to obey her request. The room was so silent, both Jedi and Supreme Leader heard the fluttering of each glove hitting the floor.

Tears glistened in Rey's big, brown eyes and her lip trembled. The rest of the sob finally escaping from her mouth, she fell to her knees, prostrated before him, clutching at his black robes.

"I'm so sorry!" she blubbered, weeping. "I hate myself for the unspeakable words I said to you! Can you ever forgive me?"

Gazing up at him, she could see that Kylo appeared stricken. "You are forgiven, and gladly," he almost crooned. Then he cocked his head for a moment, studying her. "Is that all you wish to bring before confession?" Rey knew precisely what he was referring to. Even as the tears continued to cling to her eyelashes, her cheeks, she could only stare at him despairingly.

"Ben..." she murmured. "You know that I can never apologize for leaving you." Then, she added in a whisper, "As much as I might want to."

Kylo heard the qualifier, and though his heart was wounded by her refusal to confess all of her sins, he decided to accept what was for now. At his feet, Rey continued to weep quietly, and his heart ached so for her that he slowly knelt down so that he was level with her. Sweetly, he lifted a finger under her bowed chin, so he could bask in the beauty of her face.

"Don't cry, my pet..." His voice caressed her. "Why are you still so sad?"

She whimpered, bottom lip trembling again, and Kylo felt the sudden urge to press his own lips there until her pretty mouth was smothered.

"I... I've missed you," she whispered, barely audible. "Everything around me, all the pain that has come to me, tells me that I shouldn't... but I still do." Lifting her head back up to him, she smiled weakly, wetly. "I thought you might have severed the Bond."

To her amazement... Ben actually smiled back. He seemed tempted to even laugh a little, and Rey waited almost on baited breath. It had to be a beautiful and rare sound, the joy of hearing him laugh. But he did not. Rising, he took Rey's delicate hands in his strong and calloused ones, lifting her to her feet.

"My ego is not so nearly as fragile as you suppose."

Rey was strangely relieved to hear this, and she smiled hopefully again. "Still... it was torture to sit idly with no word from you. We both know the Bond can be... temperamental."

At this, Ben did laugh, though the sound was short and abrupt, and there didn't seem to be any mirth in it. Turning, he crossed back to a writing desk that Rey knew had never been in her room. Indeed, her surroundings seemed to blend into the obsidian ones of some distant Star Destroyer, perhaps Kylo's own rooms. Seating himself at the desk, Ben took out a quill and ink, scratching along a piece of parchment. Drifting around the desk and coming to hover behind him, Rey watched with fascination as his rather large hands floated over the page with surprising tenderness. Rey knew the rudimentary basics of how to read and write, yet she had never seen someone form letters and words with such artistry.

"What are you writing?"

"A letter," Ben answered mildly, without looking up or even so much as pausing in his composing. Another beat, though, and then he did, contemplative. "Neither of us can tell when the Bond may next open again, or even how much more time we have together now. We could be separated at any moment."

"That is true," Rey pondered low. Her heart already bizarrely clenched at the thought.

Ben leaned back in his chair. "I know I have not extended you the same courtesy, in apologizing for my transgressions. However I have hurt you, I do apologize and hope to make amends. I will not, however, apologize for not leaving with you, just as you could not apologize for fleeing from me."

The muscles in Rey's chest seemed to twinge, yet she still nodded, accepting his answer. Fair was fair, no matter how inconvenient or painful.

"Will you tell me where you are?" Ben crooned.

Biting her lip, Rey hesitated. Revealing an answer like that would surely be tantamount to treason against the Resistance cause. Slowly, she shook her head.

Ben sighed. "I thought not. No matter. I still have my mother's personal hologram transponder codes." Turning back to Rey, he told her: "When the Bond cannot remain open to us, I will write you. This letter -" he waved the parchment, "... will be delivered to my mother's personal hologram, through an encrypted code. It will be addressed to you; she'll see that you get it."

Rey blinked, heart alighting, though her face remained unsure. "Won't she suspect?"

"If she does, she won't act on it. Mother is too polite a lady to rifle through other people's mail. Princesses don't do such things. It is un-ladylike." A rueful smirk upturned his lips, and Rey couldn't help but softly smile. "She may still be curious and ask questions of you though. Tell her what you will, and how you see best." This last directive sounded carefree, but Rey still knew that if Leia ever did come to her with questions, she would not betray the Bond she and Ben shared.

She started when Ben suddenly took her hand. "Will you write to me in return?" Biting her lip to hide a grin, Rey nodded. Ben's answering smile was the most radiant she had ever seen from him.

"It won't be as... eloquent as yours," Rey searched for the right word.

Ben's brilliant, gorgeous smile remained undeterred. "As long as it comes from your pen, I shall anxiously await it. You can pass it through my mother for her to send by hologram."

Just then, both young people felt a tug; the Bond was ending. "Goodbye, Rey. Until we meet again," Ben said softly, before he disappeared.

Staring at the spot where he had vanished, Rey echoed piningly, "Until we meet again..."

* * *

The next morning, Rey arrived in the mess hall for breakfast. She was just getting her plate when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Rey! Over here!"

Turning with a smile, Rey spotted Finn waving her down to a table at the far end of the room. Seated next to him, looking weak and exhausted but in fine-enough spirits was a stout woman with tan skin and a round face. Sitting across from them, Rey observed how Finn stole an arm across the young woman's shoulders. It was the same woman whom Rey had seen lying unconscious on the med cot aboard the Falcon; she remembered how Finn had draped a coat over her.

"This is Rose Tico. She's... a friend of mine," Finn's smile was bright and shy, even as his voice bobbled. "She saved my life back on Crait."

Rey beamed brightly at Rose. "It's nice to meet you, finally. You gave us quite a scare, we thought for a minute there you were going to leave us."

Rose smiled weakly, her face turning pink. "I pulled through, thanks to Finny here." She sent him a grin that could only be described as loving. Glancing between the two of them curiously, Rey frowned in puzzlement. Finny had been her pet name for her best friend, one that until now only she had ever used.

"Would you like anything to eat, Rosie?" Finn asked her.

"Blue milk, please," she requested.

"Coming right up." Finn hesitated for a parsec, studying her before diving in and pecking her on the cheek. He then exited from the table hastily. Rey could only smile softly. If her best friend wasn't in love with this fierce, spunky woman, he was already falling fast. Rose must not have been able to decipher what was in Rey's eyes, for she blushed fuschia.

"I kissed him. On Crait." She blurted out the words, and Rey's eyes went huge.

"Oh." The Jedi couldn't think of anything more intelligent to say.

Rose turned even further red, even as she giggled. "Of course, I then chose that moment to pass out, and when I woke up, we talked about everything except... where we stand. If we stand anywhere. I don't know if he feels the same."

"He does," Rey smiled encouragingly. "If I know Finny like I think I do..."

At this, Rose's hazel eyes went huge. "He does?" she whispered. "Oh, gosh, Rey, I... you're jealous of me, aren't you?"

"What? No," Rey blinked, chuckling in confusion a little. Softly, she took Rose's hand from across the table. "You don't have anything to fear from me, Rosie. Finny's like my big brother. And besides..." Now it was her turn to flush pink. "I have a love of my own."

Rose's grin dazzled at this, as she squeezed both Rey's hands between them. "Girl talk. Come on, spill. What's his name?"

Rey trilled out a laugh, by now as red as a Happebore. "His name is... Ben," she got out at last.

"Is he cute?"

"Force above, _yes_!" Rey groaned out. Rose squealed.

"Keep talking. You're making me feel better already! I used to do this all the time with my sister!"

"I didn't know you had a sister," Rey smiled brightly. She was quickly coming to realize that the more time she spent with this cute girl, the more she liked her.

At this, the brilliance in Rose's hazel orbs dimmed a bit. "My twin. Paige. She died during the evacuation of D'Qar, right after Starkiller."

"Oh..." Rey's face fell. "I'm sorry." She glanced down at their enjoined hands. "I've never had a sister before," she confessed. "But I'll try to be one for you if you like."

Tears pooled in Rose's eyes. "Thank you, Rey."

Just then, Finn returned with Rose's blue milk. "Here you are, Rosie."

Rose beamed at him. "Thank you, Finny." Then, her face turning resolute as she seemed to decide something, she suddenly seized Finn's face in her hands and pulled him into a deep kiss of thanks.

Though shocked, Rey watched as her best friend relaxed into the kiss in the moment just before Rose pulled away. The tan-skinned girl's expression, though shaded red, was as assertive as her kiss and no-nonsense.

"There's some stuff I think we need to talk about," Rose voiced. "I think I've made my feelings abundantly clear. I... I hope you feel the same." Lashes fluttering, she raised her eyes to Finn's shyly, only to watch as his lips covered hers in a soft kiss.

Drawing away, Finn expressed, "Yeah. We do have some things to hash out. But... I hope I've made my feelings clear too." Rose looked ecstatic, as she and Finn leaned in as one and kissed again.

Glancing down into her lap, Rey debated whether to sneak away and grant them some privacy. Fortunately, Leia Organa made the decision for her, sidling up to the Jedi. Giving only a glance towards the kissing Stormtrooper and technician, Leia said, "My dear, a strange letter arrived in my hologram this morning, addressed to you." The old woman held out a very physical envelope, black calligraphy forming Rey's name across the top. Brown eyes going wide, Rey snatched it up immediately, beaming. "Thank you, General." And she hurried away, leaving Finn and Rose still making out.

Stealing back to her rooms, Rey tore open the envelope. Scanning Ben's flowery words line by line, her heart palpitated at the knowledge that he seemed to speak from his own. His voice was sincere, and terribly romantic.

" _Dearest Rey,_

_Please be assured that I would never shut out that which has brought sunlight into my darkest of days. Though I once foolishly cursed the enchantment that brought your lovely face to me awake, as it has already resided with me in sleep, I now count it amongst the blessings of my life. I know I have wronged you, but let not your heart be heavy, my desert flower. To run away with you was - and remains - a great temptation, though it is for your protection that you not be saddled with a suitor so vexing as I, there in your present company. There are those amongst your comrades who would sooner hang me from the gallows than let me atone for my sins in this life, much less allow me to court you the way you deserve._

_Best of women, does your heart still at the reading of these words as much as they stilled mine to write them? I find your brown eyes entrancing, the curves your body svelte and voluptuous -_ _indeed_ , _most handsome. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day in the gardens of Naboo? Thank you, nay, I shall not, for you, my dear, are far more lovely and more breathtaking. I revel in your temperament, which can alone challenge me in its fierceness, then in the next instance, you are as docile and sweet as a lamb._

_Forgive me if I am bold, dear lady, or awkward in my turns of phrase, which if spake aloud, would surely leave me stuttering like a schoolboy. Nevertheless, I do hope you will reply, and shall anxiously await such any reply that you deem fit to grace me with. Oh beauty beyond all beauty, you have my heart, though I tremble in terror to say so as I fear you may not feel the same. Still, I sally forth, and will accept that you shall adjudicate my heart as you will._

_Most Sincerely,_

_Ben Solo_

Rey could not help it. She giggled aloud, tenderly re-reading Ben's letter again. Her smile was soft though nearly blinding as she strove to memorize every single word. She especially appreciated how he had signed off as Ben and not as Kylo. Most exhilarating of all, however, was that he had confessed his love for her. Ben Solo... in love with her? Her heart quivered in delight at the thought of it. Humming to herself in curiosity, Rey dug around in the side table, finding in one drawer several reams of parchment and an inkwell. Finding a quill also, she sat down on her bed, dipped it into the quill and began to write a letter...

" _My Dearest, Ben:_

 _Your letter, just received, is most bold, sir. Most bold, indeed. Yet your words delight and charm me greatly. I have not asked the Maker for such love; regardless I feel not in the least aggrieved to have it. Such a capture as mine of your heart has never been seen since General Calrissian's successful seizure of Imperial forts at the Battle of Tanaab. Forgive me if my own words are not nearly as... verbose as yours_ (Rey needed to look through a holodictionary to come up with that word) _for I am but a lowly desert scavenger, untrained in the artistry and grace which you attribute to me quite flatteringly, yet in haste. I should thank the Force a thousand times that it has deigned to bethrothe me to a prince, though mysterious and dark a prince though he may be. If you wish to ask for my hand in marriage, say so now. I have no dowry but my heart, which I offer to you as freely as you have yours to me. But patience, nearly Husband, patience! For there to be a wedding, first there must be peace. I shall not content myself to be a widow before I am to be a wife, as you once spoke to me. The battlefield need not - nay, it will not! - be our marriage bed. Come to me, so that we may join hands whilst exchanging rings and that our lips may meet in a righteous kiss over a treaty of peace. Wedding bells will sound at our marriage and also the forfeit of the hostilities!_

_I anxiously await your answer. If these words please you, perhaps I shall freely and happily call you fiancé._

_Yours In Love,_

_Rey._ "

* * *

Ben had been overjoyed when Rey's reply came through his hologram the very next day. He trusted that his mother had not asked questions. Heart beating rapidly, palms sweating, as he read Rey's reply, he determined to stamp each word to memory across his heart. She was educated, flirtatious and wily in her answer... and had accepted his confession of love! The dashing of a reply was fast and furious:

" _My Bride, My Intended:_

_Upon receipt of your letter, my heart and soul exulted. They dared to ask, what fever dream is this? Surely this cannot be real? Oh, joy, oh happy, happy day, but it is! I would submit to you on one knee this very moment if I could, but I daresay your tongue would cluck in disapproval if I were to offer you a golden band of matrimony in the post. Be assured, my beloved, there will come a day where I will appear before you on one knee, and speak in tongues more eloquent than those I now write about how much I love you. Would that I were near you at this very moment!_

_In this letter I have just received from you, I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase. It changed the meaning. Did you intend this? One stroke, and you've consumed my waking days - perhaps this is the cruelest stroke that my Master - whom I slew for you - once spoke of. You have referred to me as your dearest and thus sealed my fate. I am in love with you, honest enchantress. But one more moment of your time - you speak of a day where you and I will openly kiss as lovers do. Do you mean to say that I may kiss your rosebud lips, perhaps when next we meet? Reply posthaste, for my enamored wings have taken flight!_

_Yours,_

_Ben_ "

And when Rey next replied to him, her missive read in part:

" _My Sweet Ben,_

 _Since you plead for my kisses, I shan't torture you. Dearest fiancé and one day Husband, you may kiss me wherever you wish, however many times that you wish. I shall count each time your lips touch my body, and furthermore count the seconds until you may. I dare hope it won't be ere long..._ "

* * *

Back and forth the letters went like this. Rey would hand her replies - sealed in envelopes - to Leia, who would then presumably take her to her own personal hologram. The very next day, or day after at the latest, Leia would pass back to Rey a similarly sealed envelope from Ben.

After nearly two standard weeks of this, the Bond decided to finally be merciful. Rey was preparing for bed alone in her rooms, daydreaming about Ben, when she felt the squelching of time and space. That pull behind her navel. Turning happily, there Ben appeared, without his mask or gloves. Beaming radiantly, Rey let out a happy sigh and ran forward, flinging herself into his arms.

"Ben..." she breathed in a whisper, her voice tickling the strands of black hair by his earlobe.

"Oh, Rey..." Ben moaned. Drawing back, he lifted a paw of a hand to caress her cheek. Leaning into his palm, Rey felt her eyes flutter shut with a happy sigh.

"Rey?"

"Hmm?" she purred, nuzzling into his touch with a content smile on her face. Her voice was almost dreamy. "What?"

"Please won't you let me kiss you?"

"Always," she blurted out. Then, eyes blinking open, she turned as red as Mustafar magma as she stammered. "I... I mean... of course, yes, you may."

Grinning, Ben's hands cupped Rey's face, tilting her head back. Eyelids drooping closed again, Rey leaned forward on her tiptoes, breathless with anticipation. Dipping his head, Ben pressed his lips to hers in a warm and passionate kiss.

Rey let out a tiny gasp the moment his lips touched hers. This was her very first kiss, and she had no idea what to do. Feeling her knees turn to jelly, she elected to loop her arms about Ben's neck, lest she go collapsing to the ground. She shivered, swaying into the kiss and deepening it, as she felt Ben's strong arms encircle her slim waist and pull her tight against his body.

"Mmmmmmhmmmmm..." Rey groaned, allowing her fingers to sink into Ben's silky black hair. Then, she felt a slimy thing dart out to tickle her bottom lip. Ben's tongue touched her mouth again and she gasped sharply, letting her mouth fall open against his. Granting him entrance without even fully aware of that technique, she now felt Ben's tongue swimming in her mouth. Electricity coursed through her body, she felt like she was on fire.

When Ben's hands cautiously dared to touch her bum, squeezing one globe of her perfect arse, Rey's body now began to act on pure instinct. She quite brashly hiked her leg up to his waist, hooking it around his torso as Ben bunched up the hem of her little sundress with his fists. With that, Rey leapt the rest of the way into his arms, folding her legs about him.

And Ben and Rey continued to embrace and kiss long into the night...


	3. A Boy Like That

**Chapter 3: A Boy Like That**

It was a calm and peaceful night just a few day cycles later, and it found Rey on a landing platform looking up at the stars. Supplies had been funneled covertly to the jungle moon from its mother planet of Ajara, so there was reason to celebrate this evening and hope that the rest of the abandoned Rebel base would soon be better fortified.

Rey had not seen Ben through the Bond since the night they had shared their first kiss. Making out and heavy petting - neither of which she had been versed in - had been involved, and his touch still made her skin tingle. But she had completed writing another letter to him just that afternoon cycle, and passed it off to Leia, their middleman. If the old woman knew that the Jedi was writing her son in secret, she didn't let on. No questions had been asked about the envelopes being beamed back and forth through the General's hologram comlink. Rey wasn't inclined to worry. As long as Leia's hands were the only ones those letters passed through on the way to her love, she had nothing to dread. And besides, even if Poe or any one of Leia's deputies got the idea that the holomail should be seized and searched, there wasn't anything in her letters to Ben that would brand her a traitor. She had not leaked secrets to the enemy - not even where they were based - and most importantly, Ben had never asked. They were love letters, first and foremost, innocent flirting, although, Rey considered with a blush, there were a few things in her pages of script that she wouldn't want anyone else reading. She had never kept a diary when she was little - on Jakku, she had had little time to herself - but this was the closest to it.

There was a chittering as BB8 came rolling up to her, nudging into her knee. "Hey," she smiled softly, giving him a pet.

"He really likes you."

Glancing up, Rey saw Poe Dameron sauntering over to her. She should have known that if BB8 was here, his master couldn't be too far behind. Huffing, the pilot lowered himself down next to her, his feet dangling off the edge of the landing platform. He had a bottle of Coruscanti whiskey in his hand, half-empty. He held it out to her, the grin a little too dazzling, on the borderline of dopey.

"Wanna swig?"

Rey begged off, cheeks turning pink. "No, thanks. I don't drink."

Poe shrugged. "More for me, then." He took a long pull from the thing, then leaned back, gazing up at the stars. Rey was content to also stargaze in silence. She had never spent any significant time with Poe up till now. Sure, she had heard plenty from Finn, who had always spoken highly of the man. The pilot was charismatic, passionate about the cause. Handsome in a roguish way, but as handsome as Ben... well, maybe not.

"We're glad you're here, you know." Poe's voice was soft as she turned to him. "What you did on Crait was... amazing."

Rey couldn't help but flush at the praise. "It wasn't all me. Chewie helped."

"Banthashit." She frowned in slight disapproval at his colorful language, but decided to let it slide. She'd known plenty of men on Jakku who had filtheir mouths, especially when inebriated, as Poe clearly seemed to be.

And he also seemed to have drifted closer to her, so that his hip was almost touching her. Though his eyes were a little unfocused - almost emerald with flecks of gold in them - Rey recognized the look in them. The gaze of lust fueled by the bottle.

"With you, we'll kill Kylo Ren for sure."

Rey's heart almost stopped, but not for the reasons Poe would have hoped for or supposed. _Kill Kylo...? Kill... my Ben...?_

The thought had distracted her so much, she wasn't aware of Poe's lips being on hers until half a parsec after they had touched. Eyes bulging, Rey wasn't sure how to push him away, or how she might hurt him if she did. Her arms felt like lead, stiff at her sides, and when she felt Poe's arms encircle hers, she whimpered a little.

All at once, she felt the tug behind her navel, the blurring between time and space, and her whimpers became a little pitchier. _Oh no, oh no..._

Ben was coming here. If he saw her with Poe, or... Oh, Maker above, what if Poe saw Ben...?

Poe had drifted away a little bit, though Rey could still feel his alcoholic breath on her skin. There was a chill in the air, and not from the night. That shivering, goosebump feeling that they weren't alone.

"Rey...?"

She panicked. Grabbing Poe and yanking him close, she kissed him thoroughly, even as she all the while she imagined that she was kissing the man whose faint outline she could see just over the pilot's shoulder. A rumble of rage burned across the Bond, though mercifully the connection snapped quicker than normal.

As soon as Ben disappeared, Rey released Poe with a small POP! Shocked and disgusted at herself, she turned away to gaze, unseeing out at the canopies of the trees in the distance beyond.

Nothing. She felt absolutely nothing. Kissing Poe had felt like kissing durasteel, or Tatooinian bulsa wood. A sob bubbled up from her throat and she curled into herself, unable to look at Poe's eyes still on her.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." he stammered, strangely flustered for the first time since she had met him. "Did I bite your lip or something?"

"No," Rey moaned, shaking her head. "Poe, I... you'd better go. Please." The last was but a whisper.

Poe ceded to her request, rising from the platform and lumbering off, his expression dazed and confused. Biting her lip, Rey let the tears fall, and she bowed her head in between her knees and wept.

She felt unfaithful... so unfaithful...

* * *

Rey wandered the jungle trees for much of that night, procrastinating returning to her room. There was no telling when the Bond would open again, so if she had to explain herself in a letter to Ben, she would do it... but it would be the hardest letter to write.

Emerging onto a grassy hillside, doused by the cool wind, Rey hugged herself against the chill. By the light of Ceres, Ajara's largest and brightest moon, she could see dewdrops clinging to the grass blades at her feet... or was it her own tears, slipping down her cheeks to water the ground?

A sudden pull behind her navel made her tremble in terror, then the squelching or time and space. Time between Bond sessions had never been this short, and she didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified by that. Still pondering the ground resolutely, she managed to pipe up in a small voice, "It wasn't what you think."

"Then what was it?"

There was no modulator to his voice, so he wasn't wearing his mask, as he hadn't since their first Bond after Crait. But the fury was still lacing his words.

"Poe was drunk. He caught me by surprise, I didn't know how to let him down easy, and then you showed up..."

"Why would that matter?"

That got Rey to finally look him in the face, beautiful brown eyes blinking. "Huh?"

"Why would it matter if I showed up?" Ben stepped closer to her. Her heart clenched in pain, stung. Still, she seemed to immediately know what he was thinking behind the question.

"Poe could have seen you, and I didn't want to risk how he might react if he did. He could have killed you, and we still don't know all the Bond's rules, how it works, or how powerful it is..." She was rambling, making excuses, she knew it, but that didn't mean the excuses had no merit. The possibility - however uncertain - of Poe seeing Ben just as clearly as she knew Ben could see Poe was what had caused her to panic and kiss the pilot back. Even though she hadn't wanted to.

Ben was stonily silent, and Rey searched his eyes heartbreakingly.

"What did you feel when you kissed...?"

"I felt nothing," she spat it honestly, and firmly. "It felt like I was kissing the outside hull of the _Falcon_."

Encouragingly, she saw Ben's lips upturn into a small and smug smirk. Rey weakly smiled back, floating nearer to him.

"Would you please kiss me? I need to wash off the taste."

"It was that... disagreeable, was it?" Though there was strained mirth in Ben's voice, his eyes remained dubious. Softly, Rey touched his face.

"It was a mistake. And I'm sorry that it hurt you."

In a display of how far he had come just from seeing her in secret, Rey felt Ben's anger wash away, though a dull ache of pain still throbbed deep down in his soul. All the same, he nodded, taking her in his arms. Smiling brightly, eyes shining, Rey craned up to kiss him, looping her arms about his neck.

"If... Hmmm... if you want me to apologize further in my next letter to you, I shall," Rey teased.

"I'd rather not," Ben chuckled, nose nuzzling her chestnut hair. "When _will_ you next write me?"

"It's on its way; I sent it this afternoon cycle."

"I still can't believe we're passing notes through my mother. It's like we're schoolchildren," Ben mused. "If your words weren't so heartening, I would think it undignified."

Rey giggled, leaning back out of the kiss to let her fingers play with the hair tucked behind his ear. "I... I need you. More than I've ever needed anyone," she confessed in a murmur.

Ben's grin was dazzling and beautiful, like a sun Rey wanted to bask in. "Put _that_ in a letter, why don't you?"

She laughed musically at his dry wit, nestling against him. "If you want me to, then I will," she flirted.

"Do," Ben beamed, tugging her close and kissing her. When she didn't pull away, he began kissing her face - on her lips, her nose, her eyelids, her cheeks, on her mouth once more.

There was the tug behind her navel again, and Rey felt Ben fading away in her arms. "So... are we OK?" she asked desperately.

Ben just kissed her nose again. "You are forgiven, my pet. I trust you completely." And he faded away on the air.

Left alone on that hill, Rey turned away for home with a blissful sigh... and then froze when she saw who was halfway down the sloped embankment, gawping at her in stunned silence.

Rey's very blood chilled. "Rosie... Finny..."

The technician and ex-Stormtrooper were holding hands, apparently having also come to this hill so they too could have a moment of privacy. Rose's tan skin was flushed in some halfway land between white and red - though not exactly pink. It was almost as if she couldn't decide between running in terror or flying at the Jedi in a rage.

Rey's lip trembled. "I... I can explain..."

Before she could, Finn dropped Rose's hand and stormed off in a huff. Rey watched him, stricken. "Finny, come back!" She was intercepted in her attempt to go after him by Rose.

"Don't you know what he is?!" Rose's scream was almost shrill; Rey had never seen the happy-go-lucky sparkplug of a girl so enraged. Still, Rey tried to keep her face placidly calm, making peace with having been found out even as she hoped against hope that Finn wouldn't go running to Leia.

"All right. Now you know."

"And you clearly don't... he killed my sister! He is one of THEM!"

"No, Rosie..."

"YES! A boy like that, who'd leave his mother! Forget that boy and find another! One of your own kind!"

Poe's face swam in Rey's mind, but she cast it aside, even as Rose continued to scream at her. "A boy who kills has no heart! A boy who kills cannot love! But he gets your love and your heart!"

"Rosie..." Rey's voice was choked with tears. "I have a love of my own, and it's all that I have. Right or wrong, what else can I do? You're in love too, or so you say." She took a deep breath. "I would never betray you, nor have I. The Force has decreed that I be with him, and I must obey. Can't you understand that?"

Rose clenched her fists... but then let them drop. Hanging her head, letting out a growl of frustration, she nodded heavily, blinking back tears. Smiling weakly, Rey embraced her, though Rose made no move to return the hug.

"Thank you."

There was a huffing and puffing as Finn arrived back on the hill. The girls broke apart.

"Come _on_ , Rose! I thought you were following me!"

Rey had to bite her lip to hide her amusement.

Turning back to her own lover, Rose cocked an eyebrow. "I would have thought you'd be back to base by now." Finn could only shrug sheepishly. Rose stuck a finger in his face. "We speak of this to no one."

That was when Finn's jaw dropped. "But, Rosie..."

"Finny: don't argue."

Clenching his teeth, Finn finally nodded painfully. Even as he muttered darkly, "I have a bad feeling about this..."


	4. Make of Our Hearts

**Chapter 4: Make Of Our Hearts**

Ben growled as he worked Rey's lips open in a hot, messy rhythm. The Bond had happily opened during a peaceful early morning, and the couple wanted to take advantage of the opportunity while they had a moment alone together in Rey's room. Erection straining through his pants, Ben boldly rutted against Rey, nestled in his arms and wound about his body. Moaning prettily around his squirming and insistent tongue, Rey furiously humped back. The delicious friction only caused her knickers to become even more damp and saturated, and when Ben's strong hands gripped the perfect globes of her rear, she shivered in delight.

It would be so easy, to let go. But...

"Ben... Mmmm... Ben, wait... Hmmm..." Rey wriggled free from their intense make-out session. Squirming a little, her lover got her meaning and gallantly set her down like a gentleman. "I... I think we should stop."

"What? What's wrong?" Ben's eyes, normally so soft, betrayed a fear of rejection. Fear of inadequacy.

"Nothing," Rey smiled softly. "I love kissing you, always, but... I... I don't think we should get... carried away." Her cheeks turned an adorable pink. "For that, I want to wait until we're married."

"Of course, my dear," Ben smiled tenderly. "Anything you say." Taking a seat next to her on her bed, he took her hand. "Does the thought of sex... frighten you?"

She shrugged. "It used to, when I was younger. I know the basics now - there were women in Niima Outpost who talked of such things over liquor. For a long time, I was under the impression that taking off all your clothes was all that was needed to make a baby." A raspberry sound danced across Ben's swollen lips as he tried to hold in a guffaw. Rey swatted at him, even as she too smirked. "It's not funny!" A pause. "OK, maybe it is, a little." The mirth faded from her lovely face and the light in her eyes dimmed.

Ben frowned. "What is it?"

"Also... there were sex workers. Whores and prostitutes, in the outpost," Rey whispered. "I'd walk by the tents sometimes bringing back my finds to Unkar Plutt. He had a stake in that market, you know, on the side. He'd groom girls older than me, to make love with the pirates and the spice traders who passed through. Always for a price, of which Unkar would get nearly all of the cut."

Ben was impossibly still, next to her. "Did he ever...?!" He almost blasted out the start of the next sentence.

"No!" Rey cried, touching his arms soothingly. "No. Girls who... sold themselves to those kinds of men, slept with them, were usually those who badly needed to supplement whatever little income they had. Often, they were girls who couldn't hack it in the dunes and the starship ruins scavenging for parts. I was talented enough, small enough, and Unkar always paid me decently enough in portions that I could get by without... going into the tents. To be fucked. I could survive on scavenging alone. Others weren't so lucky."

Ben let out a low breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Thank the Maker." He laced his fingers through hers. "I can understand why you'd want to save yourself for marriage, and it makes me so... happy that you would."

She smiled at him teasingly. "I don't mean to torture you..."

"Not at all." He pecked her lips softly, and Rey smiled against his mouth. "I will live, and wait patiently."

Rey kissed him again. "Thank you." Leaning her head on his shoulder, they remained on her bed in companionable silence. Stroking his arm lightly, Rey finally murmured, "What's wrong?"

When she felt Ben squirm, bristling, against her, she just clucked, "You can't hide anything from me, darling. We're Bonded, remember? I sense you in the Force. You're troubled by something."

At last, Ben spoke: "General Hux has kept open an investigation into your whereabouts."

Rey lifted her head from his shoulder to stare at him. "Did you authorize it?"

"Of course not! I may have wanted to, after Crait, but then..." He smiled helplessly. "We fell in love."

She peered at him. "So you wouldn't want to find me or bring me in?"

Ben gnashed his teeth slightly. "I may not like who you're with, and rather prefer that you were here with me. But as long as you're safe..." His voice trailed off, until he sighed. "You may not be for much longer, though, if Hux keeps sniffing about. He's kept me abreast of all his findings throughout, and he's narrowed the location of the Resistance to one of three places: Rakata Prime, Chott el Djerid or Ajan Kloss."

Rey tried not to give anything away on her face, but perhaps her and Ben's shared intimacy had made her easier to read for him. Eyes narrowing, Ben nodded once. "Ah. So it is on the jungle moon of Ajara on which you're stationed."

Rey didn't reply beyond simply casting her eyes down to her hands folded in her lap. After a moment, Ben laid his own large hand across her dainty ones.

"Don't fret, my sweet. I won't tell a soul, least of all Hux. But I will have to somehow keep him from narrowing his search down further."

Rey glanced to him. "Can't you just order him to halt the investigation? You're the Supreme Leader; you outrank him!"

"It's not that easy, Rey. If I were to just shut the investigation down now, Hux would wonder why, and even if he didn't figure out why, he'd accuse me of committing treason on the grounds of obstructing justice. That could lead to a coup, or worse." He shook his head. "If he did manage to locate you, he would send a Stormtrooper battalion to scout ahead, and..." Ben abruptly halted mid-sentence, glancing to something at his left that Rey couldn't see. Whatever it was, whatever Ben heard, his face went white. "I see. Thank you, GN-256." He whirled back to Rey. "Makerdamn that Hux! He already ordered battalions to all three of the worlds still on his list!"

Rey's heart ceased to beat. "A Stormtrooper battalion is on its way here?! To Ajan Kloss?!"

Ben nodded grimly. "You have to warn your commander to not engage! Stormtroopers like that will only have about 10 in their company, but they will have to check in with their commander off-world at predetermined intervals. Try a Jedi mind trick on the troopers once they make landfall, get them to turn back!" He stood up hurriedly. "I will watch from afar, even if I can't keep the Bond open!"

"How?" Rey asked.

All at once, she felt Ben's voice echo in her head, even as his lips didn't move an inch:

**How about like this?**

_We can hear each other's thoughts?_

**Yes. Will you do what I say?**

After a moment, Rey nodded. Smushing his face in her hands, she kissed his lips wildly.

"Be careful," she implored.

"You too."

And Ben disappeared as the Bond connection broke.

* * *

The bond snapped shut as she entered the corridor. There were sirens and explosions, and the Force was chaotic with energy as she navigated the empty corridor. She had to find her friends, she had to do something. She found Rose sprinting up the temple steps with a blaster.

Rey pulled the blaster from her own belt, following her friend up the steps. "Where are Finn and Poe?"

"Rey, where were you?" Rose huffed between breaths. "They think the ship landed by the old base, and there shouldn't be more than a dozen onboard."

"There are only ten," Rey said quickly, squinting as the bright rays of the sun blinded her temporarily. They didn't hesitate to sprint across the small landing and down the steps to the jungle. Rey felt each step down in the Force as she blinked away the dark spots in her vision.

"Even better," Rose panted next to her, eyes forward with determination. "They left with the others, hoping to eliminate them all before they can relay our position."

Rey nearly tripped down the last step as her friend's word sunk in. "No, Rose, they can't! If those stormtroopers disappear, a lot more will come looking!"

Rose stopped at the base of the stairs. "How do you..."

"Just trust me!" Rey shouted, pulled her friend by the arm. "We have to stop them! If we don't, we all die!" The two women took off into the jungle after Finn and Poe. Rey buried her fear for the future, her fear for her friends, and focused on what she knew she needed to do. She had to trust Ben. She had to stop the fighting, persuade both the First Order and the Resistance to lay down their weapons. It was the only way they could avoid a massacre. It was all up to her.

Branches reached like claws from the shadows, ripping and tearing at their exposed skin. Rey stumbled as something wrapped around her ankle. The momentum threw her toward the ground, slicing her cheek. She screamed in fury, kicking and pulling at the tightening black vine that was dragging her toward a hole in the forest floor. Channeling the darkness around her, she found the strength to rip it from her ankle and immediately took off toward the base. Wiping the blood from her cheek, it was only then that she realized she was crying, the salt from her tears stinging her fresh wound.

Rey burst from the trees into the clearing, crashing into a wall of dread. The crumbled base loomed before them; the First Order ship had set down to the left. Panic squeezed the breath from her lungs as the sounds of blaster fire echoed across the clearing.

"We're too late," Rose gasped beside her, mirroring Rey's thoughts.

What could she do? Even if she used a mind trick to persuade the Resistance to stop fighting, the First Order wouldn't, unless...

"We have to try!" Rey shouted, sprinting across the grass.

If the Resistance had the element of surprise, the battle did not reflect it. The stormtroopers had corned them inside the rubble of the entrance to the base. Rey climbed over broken segments of the roof, finding a crevice large enough to squeeze herself through. Rose followed behind her, calling out to Finn as she ran. Red and blue blaster bolts illuminated the darkness around them as the troopers continued their advance. Members of the Resistance found cover behind fallen debris and sections from the collapsed ceiling. Rey found Poe in the darkness, nearly crashing into him in her haste.

"You have to surrender!"

"What?" His arms were raised as he fired suppressive bolts at the entrance of the base. His eyes flicked to hers quickly to judge her sincerity. "No way! We win or we die."

"There's another way!" she pleaded with him. Poe, however, refused to listen to her. She sighed, accessing the bond to use it just once more. With a flick of her wrist, she pushed Poe's firing arm to his side, as Kylo had once done to her in the woods of Takodana. Poe's eyes burned into hers. She definitely had his attention now. "Just trust me. We can all walk away from this, but they have to believe we are surrendering."

Poe couldn't move, but he didn't look as terrified as he should have been, as she was. "How do I know this isn't a trick, Rey?"

Blasterfire flew past them, but Rey barely noticed. She was trying to help him, but he believed she was deceiving him? It hurt, not to be trusted. "What? Why would I deceive you?"

"I have my suspicions."

Rey released him from her hold, hoping she could more easily reason with him. "Look, Poe, they have to check in with their commanders at pre-set intervals. If they disappear, more will come looking."

"Who told you that?" Poe's eyes flashed wildly as his perceptive mind deduced a dangerous conclusion. "Because I know it wasn't Finn; he told me we had to engage them, or they'd immediately contact the rest of the First Order. And no one else here has first-hand knowledge of the First Order. How could you possibly come across that information?"

"You will not remember any of this," she suggested, waving her hand. "And you will surrender to the First Order."

Poe turned the blaster on her. "Did you just try a Jedi mind trick on me to secure victory for the First Order?"

"No...I...Why didn't it work on you?"

A chill prickled across her skin at the sight of his conspiratorial smile. He winked. "Answer the question, traitor."

"It was for the good of the Resistance!" She knew they were running out of time, but Poe looked more determined to ignore her pleas than when she had first arrived. Yes, she had made a mistake, but couldn't he see that she had no choice? If he didn't listen to her, they would all die. She had no reason to deceive them. "If you pretend to surrender, I can..."

"I'll consider it after you tell me who gave you the information, Rey."

"It doesn't matter!" she cried defensively, trembling like a trapped animal. "What matters is that continuing this battle will be the death of us all!"

"Oh, it does matter, Rey, when the one supplying your information is Kylo Ren." She knew that for Poe, it was a shot in the dark, looking for a reaction, but his accusation was still like ice in her veins. She panicked. The look in his eyes was murderous. Just as she had done every time she felt lost and alone, she turned to the only person she knew she shouldn't.

 _Ben_!

She sensed the buzzing of the Force around her, the familiar precedent to their connection. But as his form began to appear in the shadows – and she began to regret her decision to reach out to him – the bond snapped shut like a slammed door. Sound returned, and the Force was peaceful.

"You're paranoid! How would I even talk to him! He's across the galaxy!" she prevaricated in fear, realizing she was alone. Poe raised his blaster, leveling it between her eyes.

_Ben, I need your help! Please!_

She found his presence in her mind and pressed against it, willing the words into his energy in her mind.

_Poe is going to kill me! I told him we can't kill the stormtroopers because they have to check in regularly. Now he has a blaster to my head, he's demanding to know who gave me inside information on the First Order. He knows it's you. I don't know what to do!_

He was quiet for a moment. Then she felt his profound fear.

**Tell him the truth, Rey, tell him it was me. Tell him that I'm providing you information on the First Order. I'm the one committing treason, not you.**

_No, if they know about our bond, they will never trust me. It's too much of a risk._

**And if you don't, they'll kill you, Rey!**

_You don't see the look in his eyes. He'll kill me if I tell him it's you!_

"Tell me it isn't that creature or, so help me, Rey, I will shoot you right now!" Poe demanded.

**He knows it's me. Tell him you've convinced me to turn myself over to him. You'll be a hero for bringing me in. He won't pass up the opportunity for my capture. It should give you enough time to escape. If I leave now, I can be there in –**

_And you'll be killed. I won't have you come here, not this way. Absolutely not._

**Rey!**

"Poe, please!" she stammered. "General Leia wouldn't..."

**Rey!**

"This is treason, Rey! This is war! What did you think would happen?" Poe shouted. He aimed the blaster at her forehead and counted down. "Five..." Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, but he held the blaster steady. The blaster barrel consumed her vision as she awaited her fate. "Four..." Not even when Kylo was at his most furious did she see the murderous rage that currently stared back at her. Undoubtedly, Poe would kill her where she stood. "Three..." She would die alone, abandoned by everyone. Maybe I deserve this, she thought, I have committed treason and kept Ben a secret from the Resistance. I betrayed everyone. "Two..." And I drove away the one person I have ever had a deep connection with. He warned me that it would end this way, but I didn't listen. "One..." Rey closed her eyes and held her quivering breath.

_I'm so sorry, Ben, for putting you in danger. I just want you to know that –_

She heard the weapon fired, and she flinched, her eyes snapping open on instinct. He had aimed the blaster to the left of her head and fired. Her ears were ringing at the proximity of the bolt, terror and helplessness streaming into the bond. "Tell me now!" Poe screamed over the blasterfire behind them.

 **My mother!** Ben shouted in desperation. **Tell him it was my mother.**

"It was Leia!" she cried. The fire in Poe's eyes faltered. He studied her for a moment, the blaster still aimed at her forehead.

"We'll see," he sneered. He turned toward his lieutenant, who had taken cover from the advancing attack behind a large pile of rubble. "Lieutenant Connix, raise the general on the comlink. Ask her if she gave Rey sensitive First Order information considering their recon ships." Kaydel relayed the message into the comlink.

 **Please mother, please save her.** Rey presumed Ben hadn't intended to project that thought.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I have been giving Rey all the information I have on the First Order. Heed her warnings," Leia's voice rasped over the comlink. A sob escaped from Rey's throat as Poe slowly lowered the weapon.

_Ben, why would she lie for me?_

"See, that wasn't so hard," Poe smiled sardonically. "And you know I wouldn't have actually shot you, right?"

Rey tried to speak through her shuddering breath, even as she ignored the rage at Poe's smirking. Like threatening to shoot his ally was just one colossal fucking joke. She couldn't believe she had actually _kissed_ this retarded, nerf-herding bastard! "Will you trust me now that we need to surrender?"

_Ben?_

"It's too late. We already killed at least one, and I would bet my life they've already been in contact with the First Order." He turned away from her to rejoin the fight.

"Poe, stop!" she screamed, grabbing his arm. But his head snapped to the entrance of the base. Rey followed his line of sight, her eyes falling on a turret aimed in their direction. A large flash illuminated the darkness.

* * *

Rey went tearing through the jungle trees as the entire Resistance base seemed to burn around her. Her heartbeat refused to calm. With the explosion from that ion cannon, the remaining nine Stormtroopers had been obliterated, as well as their transport. Once their off world commander received no word from the fallen, he would run right back to Hux and report that Ajan Kloss was the Resistance base the First Order was looking for, and that the base was armed.

And worst of all, Poe suspected about her and Ben's bond...

Pelting blindly through the underbrush and bramble, Rey's brown eyes stung with tears. Her heart leapt in both terror and relief at once as she saw a large and firm body, clad in black, racing towards her as well.

Ben...

"Rey!" Coming together in fear, Rey and Ben clasped hands, holding their clasped fingers up between them. "We have to get you out of here before..."

With a strangled gasp, Rey yanked him close and kissed him furiously. When he wrenched free, she simply dragged him back into her for another passionate kiss.

As she kissed him, Rey realized: his lips felt... realer somehow. Firmer. Not that the Bond could create some compelling illusions of his presence with hers, but now...

Rey finally broke the kiss with a small POP! Dancing her fingers along his jawline, she pondered this mystery to herself before she realized with a gasp.

"Oh, sweet Force above, you're actually here! _Physically_ here!"

Lifting his arms, studying himself, Ben mused, "Why, yes. I suppose I am."

Face utterly stricken, Rey took his hand. "Quick, this way." And before she could think through just what she was doing, she furtively led Ben into base. They had to hide around corners and duck into storage closets a few times to avoid soldiers rushing out of base to the aftermath of the scrimmage in the jungle trees beyond. But finally, little by little, Rey managed to smuggle Ben back into her room and lock the door.

"Ben, you can't - stay - here!" she panted, whirling around in panic. "If Poe catches you, you'll be killed!"

"Let him try!" Ben declared fiercely, taking his hands in hers.

"Ben, this isn't a game! You heard my thoughts over what happened out there! Now Hux will be on the hunt, and you can't stop him without being branded a traitor! Poe already thinks I am one; he threatened to kill me!"

Ben worried his bottom lip, and for the first time since she had known him, Rey saw an expression entirely unfamiliar as she gazed into his eyes: he felt trapped. Trapped as much as she.

"It would seem only love can save us now," he postulated aloud, as Rey buried her face in her hand and began to weep.

She let out a strangled laugh through her sobs. "Gods, stop being so melodramatic!" she swatted at his chest, but he grabbed her and held her against him. Leaning into his warmth, Rey tried to smile and forget everything: her commanding officer threatening to kill her. Leia covering for her and her son although she didn't know why.

"How did you get here anyway?" she murmured, feeling his arms - thick as tree trunks - encricle her, rock her gently. "Has the Bond grown stronger?"

"It would seem so," Ben rumbled. "Dameron was acting like such a spastic loose cannon, I simply panicked. I knew I had to get to you. Just like that, there was this green light, a popping noise and here I am. It certainly wasn't like all the other times the Bond has opened."

"Teleportation..." Rey breathed almost in awe. She filed that away for later. Depending on how badly the fallout from this scrimmage was, particularly with Poe, maybe she could... "Let's run away together," she sighed.

He chuckled, indulging her for a moment. "And where would we go, exactly?"

"Anywhere. Somewhere..." The word brought back songs she would hear, from the space pirates who passed through the Outpost and longed to return to the stars: " _Somwhere out there... beneath the pale moonlight... someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight..._ "

She felt Ben's melodious laugh against her ear and her lilting voice grew quiet.

"Don't stop on my account," he entreated. "Why didn't you tell me you could sing?"

She blushed, tightening her embrace around him. "Never had much reason to... until you came along."

Ben sighed piningly. "Where would you want to go? Where could we go, and still be together?"

"There's a place," Rey murmured. "We might not have a name for it, but... _there's a place for us. Somewhere, a place for us. Peace and quiet and open air... Hold my hand and I'll take you there..._ " As she sang, she felt Ben sway them both in time to the music, until they were gliding about the room in an lulling waltz. Rey burrowed deeper still in Ben's arms. "Hold me," she pleaded. "Hold me like you did in that hut on Ahch-To, so long ago, where there was nothing but our love. No politics, no plotting..." She nuzzled her cheek into his pectorals. "No war," she finished in a whisper, and Ben's grip unconsciously tightened.

"Rey?"

"Hmmm?" she purred. "What?"

"Let's get married."

She lifted her chin from his chest to gaze at him. "I always thought that was the plan, silly. When the war's over."

"No, I mean, let's get married, right now."

Rey's brown eyes went huge. "Now?" she gaped prettily. "But... but I'm not wearing anything! Nothing appropriate, I mean."

"These robes are white," Ben ran a bit of the fabric of Rey's Jedi robes through his fingers. "That's appropriate enough, for a young bride."

Rey turned a bright shade of red at this, beaming. Bride. She was going to be Ben Solo's bride. "Well," she crooned flirtatiously. "We are bethrothed to each other. But you never proposed."

Ben just grinned. "I can rectify that." And just like that, he got down on one knee before her. Pulling out a small band, Rey recognized the jewelry: it was the black diamond ring she had seen on Snoke's finger, when she had been taken prisoner by Kylo's evil master.

"I was going to give this to you when hostilities were over," Ben began in a ramble. "But now... I don't want to wait. Who knows how much time we have? Rey, my beloved, will you marry me?"

Rey smiled brightly through her tears. "Yes." Kneeling down, she kissed him quickly. An ecstatic Ben then proceeded to turn her around, so that she was parellel to him.

"Ben! What are you doing?" she giggled.

"We must submit ourselves before the Father, the Son and the Daughter of Mortis. Ask them to bless our marriage," Ben explained. "Ordinarily, I'd prefer that there be a holy man and witnesses present, like there were for my grandparents' wedding, but circumstances being what they are..."

His voice halted as Rey's hand grazed his. "Ben: it will be wonderful," she bubbled. "Besides, I have something for you too." And with that, she pulled a small oscillator from her pocket, cylindrical in shape. "I... I didn't have a ring," Rey stammered, her face positively scarlet. "It's customary on my homeworld to exchange rings, and I found this left-over part, so -"

"I know about Jakku's customs," Ben interrupted with a smile. "I looked it up."

Rey beamed wetly. "That's so sweet..." she cooed. She kissed him again without much thought, slipping the oscillator onto his large ring finger. Serendipitously, the thing fit perfectly.

It was at that moment that the weight of what they were doing descended on both of them. As a beam of light from the setting sun shone through the tranzam window above and cast a fireball glow over the couple, Rey and Ben joined their ring-adorned hands, gazing deeply into each other's eyes.

"I, Rey of Jakku, take thee, Ben Solo, to be my husband... forever, and in the eyes of the Force," Rey intoned.

Ben's eyes shimmered as he echoed. "I, Ben Solo, take thee, Rey of Jakku, to be my wife... forever, and in the eyes of the Force."

With that, Ben lifted Rey's white Jedi hood that doubled nicely as her veil. Leaning in, the pair softly kissed.

The kiss quickly deepened, and grew more heated. Sweeping his bride off her feet, Ben carried her grandly to bed. Setting Rey down upon the mattress, Ben pecked her lips, her skin, her blissfuly closed eyelids, everywhere. Rey feversihly kissed him back with little smacks as her hands entangled with his in their collective haste to undress each other...

Rey shimmied loose from her pants, allowed Ben to pull her top over her head as she undid his belt. Articles of clothing dropped into one shared pile on the floor...

Breaking the desperate kiss at last, Rey and Ben stared at each other in naked glory. Gulping, Rey openly spread her legs, revealing the soaked patch of hair between her thighs. Crawling between them, Ben held her eyes as Rey shyyly clasped his stalky member in her fist, guiding him to her entrance.

Lined up, their eyes - brown on hazel - locked.

Ben just beamed. "I love you."

Rey weakly smiled back, and craning up lazily to kiss him, she guided him into her.

Twin groans were swallowed between open mouths as tongues battled for dominance. Greedily grabbing Ben's toned buttocks in her nails, digging them down into the skin, Rey undulated against Ben as he began to thrust and drive against her. Underneath them, the simple cot creaked and swayed, but the mattress cushioned bride impossibly softly as she lay beneath her groom. Allowed him to make love to her and take her virginity, as a husband should with his wife.

"Mmmmmm... Hmmm... Huhhhh... Uhhhh... - OHHHHH! Gods, yes, Ben - harder... faster..." Rey gasped between frantic kisses.

Slapping one hand to the wall, Ben growled as he began to pound into Rey more fiercely. "Fuck, Rey! I love you! So much!"

"I. Love. You. Ben. Solo." Rey got out, punctuating each word with a kiss on his lips. Ben slammed into her again, finding her weak spot, and she writhed happily. "Oh, Force, Ben, I'm... I'm gonna cum!"

Ben just growled through the exertion. "Then cum for me, love! Scream for me!"

"OH, MAKER, HAVE MERCY! FUCK!" Rey shrieked, her walls clenching hard around her husband and trapping him. Her toes curled to the ceiling, and her nails dragged themselves into Ben's backside so hard, she was certain she had drawn blood.

"Urrrr... Hurrrr... GODS!" Ben roared, shuddering to a stop as he ejaculated deep inside his wife, collapsing on top of her petite little frame. Rey let out a tiny squeak, mewling as Ben squirmed deep inside of her whilst his juices shot down into her core, filling her.

The newlyweds held each other close, panting, sweaty bodies mixing and their heart rates slowly returning to normal. Finally, cupping his cheek, Rey turned Ben to him and softly kissed him, eyes shining as she drew back.

"You know... I never thought about my wedding before. When I was a little girl, I never dreamed of getting married. But this... this was the wedding night I'd always hoped for, ever since I met you."

Grinning softly, Ben pecked Rey on the lips again and turning her in his arms, he spooned her from behind. Her pert little buttocks brushing up against his member, he softly pushed it in between her arse cheeks. Rey moaned sweetly. Her brown eyes rolled into the back of her head as Ben's large hands reached around to cup her soft breasts, thumbs grazing over the purple and pert mounds of her nipples.

Ben kissed her cheeks. "I want to fuck you for the rest of our days, love. But for now, let's go to sleep."

"Hmmm," Rey purred happily, snuggling closer. "Being married to you is wonderful."

And for just that one night, Ben and Rey Solo forgot the war that was keeping them apart and just allowed themselves to sleep together as husband and wife.


	5. Checkmate

**Chapter 5: Checkmate**

_Rey tried to cover any exposed skin not clothed by the golden bikini she was wearing. The task was proven difficult in the strong grip of Unkar Plutt, who was dragging her to the sex tents to pleasure her first client._

_"The Supreme Leader himself is expecting you to show him a good time, girl," Unkar leered. "He's passing through and looking for someone to warm his bed, so I expect him to pay you handsomely in credits." And with that, he shoved Rey inside the tent._

_Rey trembled in fear as the man clad all in black rose from the bed. She had heard many horrible things about Kylo Ren. What she hadn't expected was how... handsome he looked without his mask._

_Glancing him up and down, Rey tried not to stare at the long and silky black locks of hair tumbling down to his shoulder. The chiseled face. His piercing hazel eyes._

_Kylo drifted over to Rey, his expression amazingly soft and earnest. "May I touch you?"_

_Rey felt her throat go dry. "Yes," she whispered. "You may."_

_With that, Kylo took Rey in his arms. His large and strong hands encircled her waist, and then dipped lower to caress her bum. Rey's breath hitched and she unconsciously hoisted her thigh up to his torso, hooking it around his hips at her knee. Kylo held her gently as his lips dived into the curve of her neck, making Rey sag in his embrace. She let out a swooning groan._

_"K...Kylo..."_

_"Ben, please," he murmured._

_"Ben..." Rey whispered his true name. "Ben, I... Oooh, yes, right there..."_

_Spinning them both around, Rey felt the mattress catch her as she tumbled back onto the bed, the Supreme Leader above her. Gulping, her brown eyes locking onto his of green, she slowly opened her legs. His kisses melted her so much, she didn't even register that he had disrobed until he was unclipping the bit of loincloth concealing the petals of her sex..._

_And then he was inside her, thrusting low and deep, and she arched into him with a plaintive moan._

_"Hmmm... Mmmmm... Huhhh... Uhhhh... Ohhhh... Ben..."_

_She finally came with a squeal, and so hard she saw stars..._

* * *

Rey was pulled out of the deep sleep of her dream by several pairs of arms grabbing her.

Before she could yell for help, a hand clapped over her mouth, and her room was suddenly floated with light.

"Oh. Ummm..." One of the Resistance guards holding her noted how she stood before them naked. "Put something on. Quickly." The partner at his side cocked a blaster at the Jedi.

Eyes darting about frantically, Rey noticed how the one side of her bed was empty. Ben must have teleported back to his ship sometime during the night. Quivering, she hurriedly covered her immodesty with a bathrobe and the Resistance soldiers quickly seized her again.

"Come with us."

The pair of guards hauled Rey out into an open field, in which Rey now saw Poe, Finn, Rose and a captain named Snap Wexley all huddled together. Rose appeared to be pleading with Poe, tears streaming down her face, but the pilot was unmoved. Turning back to Rey as she was brought before him, he spotted the creamy curve of her thigh peeking out from the bathrobe and raised an eyebrow. Trying not to blush, Rey glowered at him.

"We, uh, we found her like that, sir. It was all she could put on."

Poe's eyes dangerously narrowed. "Interesting." He strode forward so that he was face-to-face with Rey.

"So, he's been here, has he? In your bed?"

"None of your damn business!" Rey hissed.

"I'd wager the safety of galactic secrets is completely my business, you little spy!" Poe snarled. "Now, I'm going to ask this of you one time, traitor: what information have you supplied to Kylo Ren?"

"None," Rey stated simply.

"Don't lie to me!" Poe barked. CRACK! Rey felt the sting on her cheek as he smacked her across the face. Somewhere off to her left, she heard Rose gasp, followed by a hiss that sure sounded like Finn. "He fed you intel about those Stormtroopers, so who's to say you haven't returned the favor while going down on him in bed? You think jeapordizing galactic security makes for good pillow talk, huh, Jedi?"

"Keep running your mouth, Dameron, and I'll jeapordize _your_ security!" Rey leveled.

"Is that a threat?" Poe growled.

"Well, it sure isn't a pass at you," Rey quipped.

Poe's teeth set, before whipping out his blaster and taking deadly aim. "Talk to him. Get him to come here. Call him! I know you can, somehow! Snap here says he saw you sneaking him into the base through some Force trickery. Now how did you do it, Rey?!"

Rey was stonily silent, refusing to answer. "You've already threatened me once, Poe. And you didn't follow through. Why should I think you will now?"

In answer, Poe stuck the muzzle of his blaster right against Rey's breast, directly over her heart. He smirked. "Following through enough for you?"

Rey tried not to let him see her gulp. From the glint in his eyes, it was clear Poe was not messing around. He might be playing a dangerous game, but it was one that he was going to do anything to win. Letting out a shuddering breath, Rey finally called out into the night.

"Ben? Come to me! I... I need you."

For a long parsec, there was silence. Rey could feel the muzzle of Poe's blaster bunch up the skin along her boob. Finally, there was the squelching of space and time. The pull behind her navel. The Bond was opening; he wasn't teleporting here, and she felt a strange sense of relief. Behind the Bond, Poe couldn't possibly hurt her Ben...

"Rey, honey? What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare..." Ben's voice trailed off as he took in the sight around him. One by one, he locked eyes with every person present in the posse ring. "FN-2187." Finn dipped his head in acknolwedgement. Beside him was that short little girl that Rey had mentioned on occassion - the technician, Rose. "Captain Wexley." Snap sneered at the Supreme Leader. Ben finally met gazes with Poe. "Commander Dameron..." He threw out his arms, a confused and peeved expression on his face. "What is this?"

Poe's eyes gleamed, even if he too looked just as perplexed by the phenonema before him. "How are you even _doing_ that?"

Hazel eyes darting to the blaster still mangling his wife's breast, Ben cocked a ruffled eyebrow. Behind the facade, however, dipping into his thoughts the way she might sink into a warm bath, Rey could feel her husband's panic, as he examined every inch of this trap and tried to find a way out. **What happened? Did he hurt you?**

 _No_.

"We share a Force Bond, if you must know, Commander. Rey and I can appear to each other, see, hear and speak to each other, even when separated by lightyears across the galaxy."

A moment of silence. "At will?" Poe rounded on Rey.

Rey's brown eyes, huge as saucers, darted to her husband's. Ben just nodded almost imperceptibly. "Tell him the truth, sweetheart."

"More recently... yes. We can come to each other when we call," Rey got out haltingly. "The Bond has grown stronger these last several weeks."

Poe took this in with interest. "I see. But before that, when you couldn't control it, you had to resort to passing information to each other in letters, is that it?" With that, he pulled out an envelope. Rey's jaw dropped, and even Ben seemed to freeze for a moment: it was a letter Rey had passed on to Leia for her hologram comlink the day before the Stormtrooper attack. "Where did you get that?"

"Leia had it with her during a meeting, but she was called away for an emergency summit in the Situation Room, and she asked me to send it through her comlink to a certain frequency. When I went to do it, I recognized the frequency as having First Order transponder codes in its digital fingerprint, and it got me thinking: why would the General be communicating with the First Order? Unless of course... this wasn't from the General."

Ben was now looking at Poe with flabbergasted disdain. "So you just decided to open somebody else's mail? That's a galactic federal offense, you know! Really, Commander, are you actually as stupid as you look?"

"Don't you dare! -" Behind Rey, pinning her arms behind her back, Snap tried to make a furious move around her for the Supreme Leader, but Poe waved him down. Opening the envelope, he began to read its contents in a high, litling, sarcastic voice, no doubt trying to imitate Rey:

" _I anxiously await every little moment alone we have together! The times in which you visit me have dispelled my loneliness and made me feel complete again! Oh, darling Ben, I would do anything for you!_ " Rey's blood chilled at his words, her heart stopping as Poe whirled back to her, the parchment clenched in his fists. Fire swam in his eyes. "Anything? Like, say, funneling secrets to the enemy?"

Behind them, Ben looked astonishingly bored by Poe's dead-to-rights speech. "Well, Commander, while I am flattered by your declarations of undying love, I must apologize sincerely, as my heart is already taken -"

"Is this some big fucking _joke_ to you?!" Snap bellowed, digging his nails into Rey's wrist and causing her to wince with pain.

That got Ben's attention and he took a dangerous step forward. "Let her go, Captain!"

Poe got between them all. "Not until you tell us what information Rey wrote you in those letters! There are others, I presume?"

"Yes," Ben freely admitted. "But they are no different than that one. Innocent love letters and flirting. Would you like me to read them for you?"

Poe glowered. "No."

Rey glanced fearfully between her commanding officer and her husband. Ben and Poe were now knee-deep in a pissing contest that was now digging them into a deeper and deeper hole - a tunnel to nowhere, in fact.

Poe's brow was furrowed, as he tried to find a way back to gaining the upper hand. Across from him, Rey could almost see the gears turning in Ben's head. Finally, Poe slowly turned back to his prisoner with a sickly smile on his face.

"Well, Rey, I must thank you for luring Ben here. You played your part beautifully."

The blood in Rey's veins moved quickly to make a noose around her heart. Fear blossomed in Ben's gaze, trained on her.

"Rey... what is he talking about?"

"Now, I don't take kindly to potential military plans being leaked to the enemy, but since you led the Supreme Leader here, I think I can forgive all that," Poe droned on.

"You forced her to call me!" Ben blasted out, though his gaze was uncertain.

"I did nothing of the kind," Poe drolled. He smirked. "Checkmate. Game finished."

Ben snorted. "You're playing checkers on a dejarik board, Commander. Rey would never betray me. Not for some pathetic little cause." Then his gaze, tinged with heartbreak, swiveled to his wife. "Would you?"

"Of course she would!" Poe chuckled. "She wants to free the galaxy! She hates the First Order - and you!"

"Rey: you said you didn't belong with the Resistance..." Ben started.

By now, Rey was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I did, and it's true!"

"You said you didn't love them..."

"I don't love the Resistance; I love YOU!" Rey blasted out.

There was a pronounced gasp from all assembled, and Ben's eyes went big. So did Rey's, for she had never spoken those three little words until now - hours into her young marriage, and yet, her heart felt like it was finally set free. An almost hysterical little giggle bubbled up from her lips and a smile shone on her face.

"I love you!" she chirped happily, giddy. "I love you, Ben."

Ben's gaze softened into one of undying love, and he murmured, "I know."

Poe's eyes darted between the lovers' tender looks. His face contorted. "Was that your best shot, Kylo Ren? Now let me show you mine." Shoving Snap aside, he kept Rey pinned to him, reaching around so that his blaster remained trained directly over her heart. Snap stood off to the side, aiming at Rey's temple.

Ben lunged forward. "Stop it, both of you!"

"Poe, please, I've been telling the truth all along! I love my husband, but I would never betray the Resistance!"

Poe froze, looking between the couple with intrigue. "Husband, did you say?" His gaze found Snoke's ring glistening on Rey's finger. "Ah, so there has been a union!"

By now, Rey was practically hysterical. "I would never betray the Resistance!"

"Then prove it!" Poe goaded. "Kiss me." At Rey's look of revulsion and horror, Poe's grin turned positively feral as he stared Ben sadistically down. "Kiss me the way you did that night when you were trying to protect _him_ from me!"

Ben's expression was collapsing into something hopelessly shattered. Tears were streaming down Rey's cheeks and she began to weep in heaving sobs.

"I will not be unfaithful to my husband! I will not betray my wedding vows!"

"Prove your loyalty to me, or you die!" Poe's voice had risen to nearly a yell. He cocked the trigger on his blaster.

"You're bluffing!" Ben shouted.

"Oh, am I?" Poe sneered; he looked truly desperate. Desperate to hurt Kylo as badly as he thought the Supreme Leader had hurt him and his cause.

"Yes. You are. Because the last time you threatened my wife's life, you didn't go through with it! Just like you won't do it now! If you were in the First Order, threatening an ally - charges of treason or not - would get you court-martialed and thrown out on your ass in a Coruscant minute!" Ben snapped his fingers. "But I digress. Face it, Dameron - you're too yeller!"

"SWEAR YOUR LOYALTY, REY, OR YOU DIE! Say goodbye to the wife, _Ben_! You have three parsecs:" Poe was now yelling for the heavens to hear. "One... Two..."

Turning her head, Rey chastely pecked Poe's lips - so fast, everyone almost missed it. But Rey made damn sure the pilot didn't miss the look of hatred and disgust on her face as she turned back to her husband and spoke in a deadened monotone: "My loyalty is to the Resistance."

Poe grinned triumphantly as Ben's expression crumbled. Poe and Snap both took a step away from their prisoner, the muzzles of their guns drifting away...

... Before they both fired almost simultaneously.

"NO!" Ben's lunging body was obscured by the smoke from the blasters' shots, his face - contorted with rage concealed by the flash of red from the two blaster bolts. But his cry of anguish still echoed in Rey's head as liquid fire spasmed across her abdomen, her ears ringing from Snap's shot whizzing just behind her skull.

Somewhere, in the distance, it seemed, she could hear Rose screaming. Finn was yelling as she swooned, "She's going! She's going!"

And then Rey felt herself falling. Falling in a dead faint. Closing her eyes, she let the darkness of unconsciousness, death, whatever was next, take her. She would rather die, here, right now, then live and watch to see what Ben would soon become. What he would do in his unleashed heartache and rage.

The last thing she felt was the Bond connection slamming shut...

* * *

"Ben..." Rey stirred back into the conscious world, squeezing her eyes tightly shut against the bright light that now swam across her vision. Backlit by this light was the outline of a stout and stocky person, and once her eyes adjusted, the outline took shape to reveal a sympathetic Rose gazing down at her friend with a smile of relief.

"You gave us quite a scare, Jedi."

Rey sharply sat up in the whitewashed bed in a room in the medical ward, her brown orbs blinking back the tears that threatened to spill.

"Oh, Rosie!" Flinging herself into the technician's arms, Rey broke down completely. She shook with horror and disgust and lingering fear over what Poe and Snap had done to her and Ben. What Poe had made her do. Rose simply held her weeping friend, rubbing Rey's back soothingly.

When the two women finally broke apart from the hug, Rose's hazel eyes were wide with urgency. "Poe has a blaster. If Ben tries to enter the base, he's vowed to kill him."

A stricken expression flashed across Rey's face, but only for a moment. Poe, on the hunt... Ben, likely worried sick over seeing her being shot and then frantic to get to her once the Bond connection broke.

Yanking the IVs out of her arm, Rey swung her legs off the medical cot with determination. "Well, then, we have to find Ben first, Rosie. Come on. I have to warn him. I have to save my husband."


	6. I Have Hate

**Chapter 6: I Have Hate**

Full-bore, uncontrolled panic.

That was what consumed Ben as he ran through the jungle trees of Ajan Kloss. The Force Bond, the Dyad, was howling in protest like a wounded animal, and amidst this cacophony, he only briefly wondered how the power of teleportation - among other gifts - was still in effect if the Bond with his beloved was now torn asunder by her passing. Had his soul not been in such torment, Ben - ever the Force scholar - probably would have studied this logical discrepancy further. Then again, he had not been made aware that something was not quite right with his uncle on Crait - chiefly, the fact that he was wielding a lightsaber that had been ripped in two from halfway across the galaxy only hours earlier - until it was too late.

And so Ben kept crashing through the jungle trees of a planet half a universe away from the safety of his castle on Mustafar. The night was still, breaks in the jungle canopy allowing him views of the stars twinkling peacefully above, but in his grief, Ben paid the silence little heed and even sought to shatter it.

"POE! POE DAMERON!" Ben bellowed through the underbrush. "POE! Come on, get me too, Poe! I'm right here! I'm ready!" He staggered in exhaustion against a tree, the tears spilling like a river down his cheeks. "Please..." he croaked. "Please, Poe... I don't know what else to do..."

Ben had wished for death before. Sometimes in the darkest moments of misery within the Dark Side, he had even wished that he had never been born at all. But suicidal thoughts incited by self-pity paled in comparison to actively seeking death, wishing for it, because he had nothing else to live for. No one to live for after only having that responsibility for the first time in his life, in the form of his beloved, his wife of but a matter of days. Rey...

"Ben? Ben, what are you doing?!" Ben wheeled around to see the moonlight casting on a round, tan face. Rose. But even the technician's loveliness could not help him now.

"Get out of here!" he moaned, waving her away. "POE! Kriffing DAMN YOU!"

Rose's deep, hazel eyes were illuminated in fear, disturbed. "Ben, you don't understand, Rey is..."

"Didn't you hear me? GO! Get away from me!" Ben actually grabbed her and shook her, nearly lifting Rose's petite, plump body off the ground. Now deeply frightened, Rose stumbled away, pelting through the thicket. Ben took off in the opposite direction, eventually emerging on the edge of a clearing.

"POE!"

"Ben!"

He knew that voice. Sweet Force above, he knew that voice. Had heard its music amidst the sheets while making love. Turning about 15 degrees to his left, Ben saw a figure bathed in moonlight on the opposite end of the clearing. Was he dead, having gotten his wish and he just didn't even feel it? Was this the Force playing tricks on him by sending deluded visions? Was she a ghost? Had it really come to that?

"Rey..." he whimpered out through a dazed breath. The moonlight caught her beaming smile of relief. The same one he had seen whenever he had kissed her, or cum deep inside her. No Force vision could replicate that, nor the sparkle in her eyes as she whispered his name on her lips. "Ben..."

Her arms were outstretched wide and he made to run into them, overjoyed. "REY!"

BANG!

Unseen by either of the lovers, a third figure came careening out of the darkened shadows. A flash of red and then it was gone. A spasm of pain shot up Ben's spine when he was nearly in Rey's arms. The last step or two into her embrace were not quite a stumble, his inertia seemed to slow as he reached her, hugging her tightly.

Then his legs gave out. His wife was remarkably strong as she beared his weight, even while her face collapsed into something stricken, as she lowered him to the jungle earth.

Ben's face was remarkably placid for someone who was fading, a strange and peaceful disbelief lingering on his expression. "I... I thought it would be enough," he breathed, as his body trembled in Rey's arms, where she cradled him in her lap.

Tears dripping onto his upturned face like sweet rain, Rey began to haltingly sing to her dying husband: " _Somewhere... out there... there's a place for us... Somewhere a place for us... somehow... someday... some..._ "

The songs she had heard while nestled in bed with him were starting to run together, her voice trailing off weakly as Ben curled into her side and lay hauntingly still.

Crashes could be heard through the vegetation as much of the Resistance burst into the clearing. Huddled against Finn, Rose had a horrified hand clapped to her mouth. At the head of them all stood Poe, a blaster - still smoking - hanging limply at his side, staring at what he had just done. The General seemed to not quite believe that he had done it. Brought down the mighty Kylo Ren with one blaster bolt to the back. Lifting her tear-stained face as Poe drifted towards them, the Jedi's luminous brown eyes shifted to shades of slate once she spied the weapon in his hand.

"Stay back."

Poe halted in his approach. Turning back to her fallen husband with love in her eyes, Rey closed his lids, dipped her head and kissed his mouth in full view of everyone. Rising slowly to her feet, her features stupefied with shock, she approached Poe herself. Wordlessly, she held out her beckoning hand, palm up.

Astonishingly, Poe actually handed the gun to her. Rey turned it over in her palm, her disturbingly calm face belying a deathly malice as, with a voice far too flat and soft and tranquil, she asked:

"How do you fire this blaster, Poe?"

The pilot was too stunned to form an answer, but Rey didn't wait for one. "Do you just... pull this little trigger?!" And with that the ferocity burst into her voice and her movements as she stuck the muzzle of the blaster into Poe's face, nearly up his nose. Now, Rey's eyes were wild as she began to windmill the barrel of the blaster from person to person in the circle that had formed - except, tellingly, at Rose and Finn.

"How many blaster bolts are left, Poe? How many?" She looked quite deranged. "Enough for you? You?! You?!" She pointed the blaster at Resistance members, seemingly at random, ignoring the shouts of fear that went up, pleas for her to stop. "ALL of you! You all killed him! How many bolts are there left, Poe? How many can I kill, and still have one blaster bolt left for me?" She stared Poe down as she advanced on him, finger on the trigger, taking deadly aim at the pilot. "Murderer! You killed him with your hate! Well... I can kill too - because now I have hate!"

The barrel of the blaster wobbled a little as Rey aimed it at her commanding officer. No one moved to intervene.

Then...

With a strangled cry, Rey cast the blaster aside into the woods. Falling to her knees, she sobbed. Tentatively, Poe reached out a hand.

"Rey..."

"Don't touch me. And don't you dare touch him!"

"Rey..."

"I said DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Rey screamed. And her fingers gnarled tight as blue lightning suddenly crackled out of them, hitting Poe full-on and enveloping him, lifting him off the ground. The rest of the Resistance could only stand in horrified amazement as Poe's screams echoed through the clearing. As Rey electrocuted him. The Jedi's face was twisted in a potent mix of pain and sadistic pleasure as she took her revenge.

Finally, after two or three agonizing minutes, the blue lightning disappeared and Poe's body dropped sickeningly to the ground. Clothes were ripped, his still form smoking and sparking.

Finn was the first to move. "Get the General to the med ward NOW!"

One group of soldiers descended on the fallen General, while a second swarmed around Rey. Thrashing and screaming, they had to pick her up to carry her off to her room.

"Don't harm her!" Finn ordered after the comrades subduing his friend. Seeing Poe's body hefted towards the med ward, Finn spun back to Rose, terror in his eyes. "Rosie..."

She simply nodded, murmuring gently. "Go."

Kissing her quickly, Finn sprinted away, leaving his girlfriend alone with Ben's body. Quietly, sadly, Rose placed a cloth over Ben, and began to prepare him for burial...


	7. Stormtrooper of Sorts

**Chapter 7: Stormtrooper of Sorts**

Salty tears were still clinging to Rey's eyelashes from a long night of crying herself to sleep when the door to her room opened quite abruptly the next morning. Those same lashes blinking against the sudden light so that the moisture shimmered there, Rey squinted at Finn and a deeply concerned Rose backlit against the threshold.

"Rey?" Her best friend's voice was gentler than she had expected, considering her actions the previous day, which now came rushing back along the wave of grief. "Time to get up."

"Come on, love," Rose extended out a hand. "It won't do to just stay in bed."

Maker Bless Rose Tico. And so, even though getting out of bed was the last thing she wanted to do, Rey reluctantly threw back the covers. She didn't even bother stepping in the fresher, preferring instead to stay in the clothes she'd gone to bed in and pinning up the buns in her hair that had jostled loose during the night.

Finn led the two most important women in his life towards the hangar bay, he, his beloved technician and the Jedi walking three abreast. Between her two compatriots, Rey gazed resolutely at her feet, distrusting her bantha-skin moccasins to take her where she wanted to go. Entering the hangar, Finn led the girls over to the base of a sleek and large Y-Wing, where two men were huddled together and talking.

"Gentlemen!" he called out to the pair. "I'd like to introduce you to some folks. This is Rose Tico, my girlfriend, and this is my best friend, the Jedi I was telling you about."

Both men turned to face the group. Rey was immediately struck by the one on the left.

He had a chiseled face, kind and ice-blue eyes, with flaming red hair that tumbled down to his shoulders. Muscular, with a chest just as broad as Ben's. Though Rey would always maintain that her recently deceased husband was the most handsome man she had ever met, she had to admit... this man came in at a close second.

Clearing his throat, the redheaded man held out his hand to Rey. "ADM-4548, ex-Stormtrooper... of sorts."

Rey pursed her lips in a thin, but amused smile as she shook it. "Rey Solo, Jedi of sorts."

ADM-4548 chuckled, the timbre of his voice deep and rich... and also accented, much like Rey's own. Then, he did a double-take, upon hearing her surname. "Solo... you don't mean to say that THE Han Solo is your father?"

"Father-in-law," Rey corrected, her heart twinging in pain as two deaths now seemed to play out in her mind back-to-back. Han falling off that skybridge, and then just last night, when the last of life left her beloved Ben as she cradled him.

ADM-4548 dipped his head as he took this in. "In that case, I am delighted, Mrs. Solo."

Rey smiled broadly. "Thank you, Mr..."

ADM-4548 grinned self-deprecatingly. "No surname, unfortunately. But please, call me Adem."

"Nice to meet you, Adem."

As Adem turned to exchange pleasantries with Rose, the second man stepped forward to shake her hand. He had dark skin, though browner than Finn's.

"NK-0809. You can call me Neek'o."

Rey giggled a little at the name. "Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Finn actually helped me, a little bit," Neek'o smiled at Rey's best friend. "He told me the story of how he got his name, and so I just sort of stitched it together." He turned to her earnestly. "I am glad to meet a Jedi."

Rey grinned. "The pleasure's all mine, Neek'o. But how did you and Adem get here?"

At this, Neek'o's gaze turned grim. "We were on the _Darth Nihilus_ X-Wing craft carrier, orbiting just off of Hapes, when a mass mutiny took place. Troopers refusing to engage innocent civilians instead took on their commanding officers and hijacked the ship. We incurred many casualties to do it, but didn't realize that one of the Admirals had deliberately disengaged the anti-gravity shields. By the time we did, the carrier was being dragged into Hapes' orbit. It was too late to save her. Many of us had no choice but to abandon ship. Adem and I commandeered one of the last escape pods out and set a course for the Resistance, here."

"And apparently, there are more, Rey," Finn came up behind her excitedly. "Stormtroopers rebelling all over the Outer Rim systems and the Core Worlds. We expect many more of them to find their way here, in the coming day cycles. They will have to be absolved into our fighting forces, maybe even be deprogrammed from conditioned thinking."

"Neither of you seemed to have any struggles with turning against the First Order, though," Rey looked between Adem and Neek'o.

Turning back from where he had been chatting with Rose, Adem peered at Rey almost intensely. "It was... an instinct. A feeling. That what we had been doing till now was wrong."

Finn nodded, all too familiar with that belief himself. But to Rey, it meant only one thing: the Force.

"Will we be meeting with your leader, Lieutenant General?" Adem addressed Finn.

"Oh, I'm sorry - yes, you shall, but he is in a fragile condition at the moment. In the med ward. Took a nasty scrape yesterday." He said all this while making a concerted effort to not look at Rey, and kept his wording intentionally vague. Rey appreciated it.

"How is he?" She immediately cursed herself for her concern, recalling all over again just what Poe had done to her. To Ben.

"He'll live," Finn clipped shortly. There was a small pause. Thankfully, Rose broke it.

"I'll escort you to General Dameron's rooms, gentlemen," she offered. "Finny, you can meet us there."

Smiling at his lover gratefully, Finn softly pecked her lips. "Thank you," he murmured.

Rose and the defected Stormtroopers headed for the double doors. As soon as they were out of earshot, Finn turned to Rey, eyes grim and admonishing. Rey winced, even as she internally stood her ground. If he was looking for an apology, she would give it to him, but never to Poe.

"Am I going to be punished? Court-martialed or something?"

Finn ran a tired hand over his face. "No. I spoke to Poe this morning about it. He was awake and alert, and he made it clear to me that he will not press charges."

Rey blinked in surprise, but the vindictive side of her drew back, hissing in a threatened way. If this was Poe's magnanimous way of trying to get an apology in return, well then, sorry, but he was out of luck. Unsure how to respond to the gesture, Rey opted to say nothing, scuffing at the ground with her bantha-skin moccasins.

"I'm going to run the training course," she mumbled. "Have fun getting Adem and Neek'o acclimated." She didn't mention how Finn would be seeing Poe again. She would feel content if she never mentioned the pilot from this point forward. Trying to hide frustrated and bitter tears, she hurried out to the jungle trees, Finn staring after her.

* * *

Finn took his time meandering back to Poe's room in the med ward. Thankfully, his beloved apparently had too, for he somehow met up with her, Adem, and Neek'o just as they were reaching the door to Poe's suite.

Large brown eyes wide in loving concern, Rose rested a gentle hand on Finn's chest, searching his face. "Is Rey OK?"

Finn didn't know which expression he should show on his face, much less how to respond except, "Let me get back to you on that?"

Biting her lip, her face pretty, Rose nodded before turning and opening the door to Poe's room.

"Leave it by the door!" Poe huffed almost reflexively.

"I'm not your maid, Dameron," Rose scowled, though there was levity in her voice.

Poe Dameron lifted his head from where he had been morosely staring at the ceiling. "Oh, it's you, Rosie," he sighed, flopping back. He couldn't even be bothered to chastise her for not addressing him appropriately.

"How are you feeling, General?" Finn tiptoed into the room behind Rose.

Poe shrugged, but even this flippant gesture caused him to hiss with pain. "See for yourself."

Drawing near the bed, Finn felt his mouth drop as the light caught the skin on Poe's upper arms. Red lines, circling down in rings until they colored more like a salmon pink, ran from both shoulders to elbows. At the moment, it appeared not unlike the indentations someone got when sleeping too long on one side.

"Forearms, same story, under all these bandages," Poe grunted. "They'll heal just as well as up here, eventually."

Finn gestured lamely, still gaping like a Sando aqua monster. " _This_... is healed?"

Poe sighed, fixing Finn with a comforting stare. "The Bacta tank did its work, Finn. It could be a lot worse."

"I daresay it could," Finn quipped. In any case, he was beginning to second-guess Poe's decision to not press charges against Rey. Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. "Sir, I know you're on bedrest, but there is an urgent matter that needs to be discussed with you, in the form of these two men." He beckoned for Adem and Neek'o to come forward. "This is Adem, formerly ADM-4548, and Neek'o, formerly NK-0809."

Poe shook each of their hands in turn, lingering a little on Neek'o while lifting his head from the pillow with interest. Neek'o also appeared to be appraising him with intrqiue, dark eyes bright and smile exuberantly wide as their hands shook.

"Defected Stormtroopers?" Poe turned to Finn excitedly.

"There was a mass mutiny on the X-Wing craft carrier, the _Darth Nihilus_ , just outside Hapes' orbit," Finn reported.

Poe nearly cackled with glee, turning to their new comrades earnestly. "Will there be any more mass defections?"

"One can only hope, General," Neek'o reported. "Especially once word gets round that the Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren, is dead."

The dark-skinned man's coal-black eyes gleamed, bloodthirsty, but at this, the light in Poe's eyes strangely faltered. Dimmed, even as he took in the handsome, dark-skinned man. Neek'o didn't appear to notice.

"Miss Tico briefed us, we understand that he was assassinated last night," Adem prodded.

"That is true..." Poe allowed, his voice significantly more hollow. Then, under his breath so no one else could hear, he added, "From a certain point of view..." He cleared his throat. "Finn, see to it that these gentlemen are given proper quarters, three square meals a day, and a new assignment. They are to both be commended for their bravery."

"Right away, sir," Finn saluted. As he ushered everyone out, Neek'o's eyes lingered.

"I'm glad to have met you, General Dameron. I hope to see you again."

Poe couldn't help but grin broadly, even as a strange pink discolored his cheeks to match his scarred arms. "You as well, Private Neek'o..." Humming to himself curiously once his allies were out of sight, he sank back into the bedclothes and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

Poe felt like he had only just drifted off when he was jostled awake by someone entering his room. By the light of the setting sun pouring in, Rey's face, twisted in anger and pain, seemed bathed in fire, making her appear as ghoulish as a demon from Hell.

Poe stiffened, and the monitor keeping tabs on his heart-rate started to beep faster. "Rey..." he breathed.

The heartbroken Jedi widow drifted quite close to the bed, but halted at the footboard. Still, Poe glanced her up and down, eyes wary with fear. His voice belied this with a strange calm as he asked:

"Are you going to kill me?"

"I would certainly like to..." Rey snarled, her words more growl than Basic.

"Why don't you?" Poe almost goaded, gaze challenging. Even as his insides twisted and pain of his own fought to creep its way onto his face.

For a long and tense moment, Rey's hand flickered to the lightsaber hilt at her hip. Then, her entire expression shattered, her body sagging with exhaustion. Tears slipping down her cheeks, she finally willed herself to sort of look Poe in the face. Her pained brown eyes seemed torn between beholding him and the monitor at his left.

"I never want to see you again..." she drew forth in a shaky whisper. "And I will _never_ forgive you for what you did."

Poe's entire frame slumped, but he nodded numbly. He couldn't think of anything he could possibly say as Rey turned and slunk despondently out of his room...


	8. Bridal Rose

**Chapter 8: Bridal Rose**

Finn and Rose watched from the edge of the hangar bay three days later as a healing and on-the-mend Poe Dameron took questions from the galactic media.

"General Dameron, is it true you killed Kylo Ren?"

"How did you get him in close quarters?"

"Where is the body? Has it been buried?"

As per his role, Poe spoke diplomatically, but cryptically: he had shot Kylo Ren at close range after being alerted that he had invaded the Resistance base. Exactly how the invasion took place, the General left unexplained. The body had been unceremoniously buried at sea in the Cromia Ocean, Ajan Kloss's largest body of water on the far side of the planet.

Glancing away to shield her eyes from the flashing bulbs of the tabloid cameras, Rose winced, tutting. "If looks could kill..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Finn glanced down to his lover as she snuggled into his side.

"Rey," Rose nodded off to their right. "If her eyes were blaster bolts, Dameron would be shot dead a thousand different ways by now."

Finn followed her gaze to behold the glare of his best friend, staring down her commanding officer as though he was the Emperor himself. Finn couldn't help but cringe.

"Do you think she'll charge him? For murder?" Rose postulated.

Finn squirmed a little against her. "Why would she do that?"

Rose frowned up at him. "Finny, Poe killed her husband. Wrongful death suits happen all the time."

"If she did, the Courts would try to bury it as fast as possible. They'll do anything to maintain the narrative that Poe acted like a hero."

Rose's eyes narrowed, gleaming. "So you admit that Poe is lying his perfectly toned ass up there."

"He's leaving things out, but he's telling the truth... from a certain point of view," Finn hedged. Then he started. "Wait a minute, perfectly toned... Mmmm..."

Rose's cute little mouth covered his in a deep kiss to shut him up. Drawing away, she threw back her head and laughed at his flabbergasted expression. "Relax. I'm joking. Besides, I like your arse much better." And she playfully goosed his bum. Finn nearly levitated off the ground, but smirked back. Slipping his right hand into hers, his left fiddled with something in his pocket.

"Let's go for a walk." When Rose appeared unconvinced, deep, dark eyes flitting over to Rey's, he chuckled. "Honey, if Rey really wanted to kill Poe, she would and could have done it by now." They both noted the salmon-pink scars ringing Poe's upper arms that now caught the early-morning sunlight.

Nodding, Rose gave Finn's fingers a squeeze. "OK."

The morning mist had just about dissipated as the couple strolled through the tropical, jungle trees, following a barely-carved out footpath despite not having any strong inclinations for a particular direction.

"I still think we need to reform the court system," Rose voiced. "We can't reward a murderer just because no one liked the murder victim."

Finn nodded absently. "You think Poe's a murderer?"

"I... I don't know if I would go that far just yet," Rose backed off a little bit, biting her lip. "But what happened the other night clearly wasn't in self-defense."

Finn played back that horrid night for a highly numbered time that he didn't want to contemplate. "No..." he finally managed heavily. The shattered expression on Rey's face as she watched her husband expire danced in his head. "Maybe... maybe charges should be brought against Poe... to make an example..."

"To what end, though? Beyond that," Rose wondered. "Even if Rey pressed charges and the case did manage to get to trial, the Courts as they stand now would work fast to get an acquittal. That might break Rey even more, because she'd get her hopes up..."

"For what? Revenge?" Finn frowned. "That's not the Jedi way, and it's certainly not her way. Rey's too forgiving."

"Don't be so sure," Rose murmured. "There are some things that just can't be forgiven." She sighed, scuffing at the ground. "I don't know what the right answer is."

Finn didn't either, and he found that he didn't want to talk about Poe and Rey anymore. Tugging at her hand, Rose swayed to a stop and turned back to look at him. "Rose."

Her round, pretty face blinked at him, her smile bemused and lovely. "Yes?"

"I..." With his free hand, Finn awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck. He was no good at this. Had never been great with words. But the silly little pendant that he had spent hours on felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket, compounding the mynock butterflies in his stomach. And so, still holding her hand, Finn dropped clumsily to one knee. Rose's beautiful dark-brown eyes went huge.

"Finny...?"

"I love you," Finn blasted out. Rose's mouth fell open into a pretty little 'O.' "I think I have ever since you kissed me on Crait. You're beautiful, but your kindness towards others, your spunky humor is what makes you all the more breath-taking. Rosie, you're so amazing in every way, that I can never take my eyes off of you... and I don't really want to try. The war's over and done with, and I say let's not waste any more time. Lives will need rebuilding, and I want to build mine with you. Will you marry me?" And at long last, he pulled the filed down, homemade golden band from his pocket.

By now, tears were streaming down Rose's cherubic cheeks, her whole body trembling and a hand to her mouth to hold in her gasp. She didn't, couldn't speak for a moment, until finally, she got out in a breathless whisper.

"Yes..." Her expression radiantly broke into a beaming grin. "Yes. Yes!" Squealing, she threw her arms around him as Finn stood, laughing, and he spun her around in his arms. Setting her down, Rose happily smushed his face in her hands and slammed her lips against his in a brief but passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Finn shyly slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it," Rose sighed, holding out her hand to inspect it. "But where in the galaxy did you get the gold?"

Finn shrugged, squirming bashfully. "A friend's old X-Wing in Gold Squadron. Ship was about to be impounded and sent to the smelter's yard, so I took some of the gold plating that was still salvageable and melted it down."

Rose smiled wetly. "I can't believe it... We're getting married!"

Finn pecked her lips. "We're getting married... and," he flicked the half-moon pendant at her neck. "I want you to wear this with your dress on that day. Paige should be there to celebrate with us, in some form."

Rose beamed at him. "I love you."

He just chuckled. "I know."

Fanning herself a little, Rose turned away, taking his hand. "Come on! We have to tell Rey! Oh, there's so much to do..." she prattled on. "I have to choose my dress, order the flowers, and then of course, we have to reserve a place to hold the ceremony, and - Hmmmmm..."

She was cut off when Finn spun her back into him and kissed her deeply on the mouth. When they finally drew apart, Rose was blinking, speechless.

"What the kriff was that for?"

Finn smirked saucily. "Just looking to shut you up."

Rose laughed and swatted at him. "Cheeky!"

* * *

Rey brightened immediately upon hearing that her best friends were engaged.

"Oh my stars, I'm so happy for you both!" she squealed. Excitedly clutching Rose's hands in hers, the two women air-kissed on both cheeks. "It will be so nice to have a sister-in-law."

At this, Rose's breath hitched and her eyes filled with tears. Squeezing Rey's hand, she expressed, "I'm so glad you feel that way, honey... because I was hoping you'd be my Maid of Honor. Well, technically, Matron of Honor, you've... been married..."

" _Was_ married," Rey agreed quietly. "I suppose it would be Maid of Honor, since I'm a widow now..." She shook her head to clear it. "I'd be happy to."

"Excellent!" Finn beamed. "Now I have to ask Poe to be Best Man..."

At this, Rey's face fell. "Oh no... let me be anything else in the wedding party, I don't care! Just please don't make me attend the ceremony with... with him."

"But, Rey, that's tradition," Finn pointed out weakly, realizing too late how problematic that arrangement would be.

"I will not attend on the arm of the murderer of my husband!" Rey hissed, teeth bared and eyes flashing. She turned to Rose. "Can't you ask someone else? Like Kaydel?"

"I don't know Kaydel that well," Rose admitted. "Rey, you are more than my first choice, you're my only choice." Seeing Rey bite her lip, the future bride pressed on. "You'll only need to walk down the aisle with Poe at the end of the ceremony and for pictures at the rehearsal dinner. Then you can ditch him for all I care!"

After a long moment, Rey took a deep breath. "I already said I would be Maid of Honor, and I keep my promises. So for your sake, and for Finny's, I will stand with Poe during the wedding. But after that..."

Rose hugged her tightly. "Thank you."

* * *

It was after the rehearsal dinner two months later, and the key players in the wedding party were out celebrating before the big day in the morning. The pictures of the bride and groom, the Best Man and Maid of Honor had all been taken. For each snap of the holocamera, Rey had put on the performance of her life, even as she was made to stand beside the man who had killed her husband in cold blood. No one could have said there was anything fake about her smile in each shot, even as she was internally screaming inside that she had to be in Poe's presence, often within arm's-reach.

At least now, she had the choice to stay as far away from her counterpart in the wedding as possible, seated at the far end of a row of allies that included Finn, Rose, Poe, Neek'o and Adem. On the opposite end of the copacabana counter, set against the backdrop of the sun setting along Ajan Kloss's finest beach, Neek'o had already imbibed to a significant degree, talking boisterously, if also too loudly. He was also being unusually clingy towards Poe, perched at his immediate right. The Best Man had his shirtsleeves rolled up, and was divested of his suitcoat, so that the treering-like, salmon pink scars rolling up his forearms were clearly visible in the fiery glow of late evening.

"I can appreciate a guy who has... scars," Neek'o hiccuped. If there was a double meaning behind these words, it appeared lost to him, as he blatantly drummed his fingers up Poe's muscles. "And there's always a story behind them. However did you get these, love?"

Thanks to the fiery orange of the horizon, no one could see how much Poe was blushing. Nor did anyone notice, four chairs down from him, how Rey had stiffened, her shoulders clenched nearly up to her ears while she gripped her fruity martini, staring into the contents of her glass like she wanted to drown in it.

There was a strained, slightly-too-long pause, as Finn and Rose surreptitiously glanced at each other. Poe squirmed in his chair before mumbling:

"X-Wing fire. Open gas channel got too close to a power converter and ignited. Nasty business."

"Really?" Neeko's eyes crossed, unfocused, as he tried to keep his vision squarely on the handsome pilot. "So that's why you were... flat on your back in the med ward the day Adem and I arrived?" Eyeing him sideways, Poe nodded dumbly. Again, if there was a double entendre in that interestingly-timed pause, Neek'o didn't acknowledge it. Nor did his tone indicate whether or not he believed the yarn. Perhaps he was too drunk - or turned on - to care either way. "You're _such_ a badass, Dameron."

Yup. That was definitely flirting. Rey only paid marginal attention to it, trying to focus instead on slowing her heart rate and relaxing her body. Her shoulders were still stiff and hunched, though lowering, when she felt a light touch on her arm. Turning to her immediate left, she found herself staring at Adem's deep and icy blue eyes as he regarded her in concern. Rey smiled softly to indicate that she was fine, though she doubted Adem would believe her. Nodding once, gaze friendly and soft, Adem turned back to his drink, while Rey tried to calm her internal thoughts.

She'd be lying to herself if she didn't... appreciate Poe covering for her, fibbing for her. The more bothersome question was why would he? The best revenge he could get for her disfiguring him was to bullhorn out the truth to anyone who would listen. But he hadn't. If he had, she probably would be up on assault charges by now, and Poe had declined to press even those. Was it an indication that he felt... guilty somehow? For what he had done to Ben - to her? Though it seemed unlikely, she truly didn't know.

Tossing the rest of her drink back in one go, Rey only hoped she would either be strong or drunk enough to go through with tomorrow.

* * *

The easiest part of the wedding ceremony the following evening was that Rey was allowed to walk down the aisle alone instead of being escorted by one of the groomsmen, like Kaydel and the other bridesmaids had to. Poe was already waiting at Finn's side before the altar, and she made every effort to not even look at the pilot as she took her place opposite the men.

Moments later, the wedding march began to play, and even turned in their seats, some of them standing, to get a look as an exquisite swan appeared at the end of the aisle.

Though adorably stout, Rose was blushing profusely as she glided towards her future, given away by General Lando Calrissian himself. Passing her off to Finn, Dr. Kalonia began her sermon and blessing. When it came time for the vows and exchange of rings, Finn's face was impossibly warm as he lovingly flicked the pendant around his bride's neck.

"We've come a long way to get here. I feel so grateful that I can build and share a life with you, when I once thought I would never get to have that. I love you. I will always love you."

Taking his hands in hers, Rose gazed up at him through her lashes, her voice shy but resolved.

"I love you. I know it may seem rather simple, but I love you." Tears shimmering in her irises, she smiled weakly, radiantly. "I love my husband."

When Dr. Kalonia proclaimed them man and wife, Finn took Rose in his arms and bent towards her. Rose slowly, softly stretched towards him, eyes fluttering closed. Mouth falling open to greet his eager tongue, their lips met. Smirking around his kiss, Rose let her hands fall into Finn's long hair and she tugged him closer, to cheers. Finn responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted his wife clear off her feet.

"Presenting for the first time: Mr. and Mrs. Finn Tico!" Dr. Kalonia called as Finn and Rose raced back up the aisle into the crowd of well-wishers. Finn had felt bad that he hadn't had a surname to offer his beloved, but Rose had kindly asked that her name be the one he shared. It was a name that Finn had gratefully agreed to take, as her husband.

Watching the newlyweds, Rey beamed through her tears... at least until she felt Poe's presence as the Best Man sidled up to her. The recessional music started to play.

"Um... shall we?" He offered her his arm.

Rey didn't even award him with a glance. "Let's get this over with, Dameron." And looping her arm through his, she half-dragged, half-frog-marched him back up the aisle, smugly noting the strained grimace on her partner's face.

Rey ditched Poe the moment they entered the hall for the reception, and was only too happy that Poe elected to leave her alone for the rest of the evening. Embracing Rose happily, the two women whispered and squealed before leading off the dancing exuberantly. Leaving the floor at a slow dance so that Finn and Rose could share a waltz alone, Rey stopped by the refreshments table for some punch. Her first sip was nearly derailed when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

"Having fun?"

Turning through that first sip, her lips pursed, Rey blinked when she saw Adem, red hair slicked back and looking striking in his tuxedo. Rey shrugged, the punch missing her stomach and rushing straight to her head. Just her luck that it was probably spiked with something. She shrugged. "It's a wonderful party, for the first one I've ever been to. And Finn and Rose deserve it."

"First party, eh?" Adem's orbs gleamed with intrigue. "In that case, madame, may I have the pleasure of this dance?" He bowed to her gallantly.

Rey felt the heat bloom on her cheeks as she tried to beg off, stammering. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly... it's just that I've- I've never ballroom danced before."

"In that case, I'd be happy to lead," Adem smiled at her reassuringly.

Rey studied him. Then, setting her drink down and peering at him with barely-concealed amusement, she curtsied. "All right. You may."

Adem gentlemanly took her waist, his free hand lacing its fingers through hers, and he pulled her flush against him. Rey felt her breath hitch a little in surprise, but before she could second-guess it, Adem was gliding them both through a two-step. Rey couldn't help but stare up at him shyly. Adem just grinned down at her.

"I hope I wasn't too forward..."

"You weren't," Rey assured him.

"Is your husband around? I was hoping to finally meet him," Adem scanned over the heads of the assembled guests. "Though, then again, perhaps he wouldn't appreciate me dancing with you..."

"My husband is dead," Rey cut off his rambling, her voice quiet. It was the first time she had dared to speak those cursed words aloud. "He... he passed away... I - I lost him... just at the end of the war."

To his credit, and the bolstering of her constricting heart, Adem appeared shattered for her. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry."

She glanced down at their feet between them, blinking back tears. "It's not your fault."

Rey kept resolutely staring at her slippered toes going through the motions for some minutes after that, recalling painfully the last time she had danced like this. It had been with Ben, on their wedding night, witnessed by no one and in the privacy of her own rooms. Appreciatively, Adem let the silence linger, unwilling to pry. If she didn't want to talk, he wouldn't force her to.

As the band concluded what must have been the third consecutive song, Adem stepped away and kissed Rey's hand.

"Thank you for the dance, Mrs. Solo."

She smiled at him warmly, gratefully. "The pleasure was all mine, Adem. I'm... I'm sorry I wasn't the best conversationalist -"

"Nonsense," he smiled. "I myself am getting a might sleepy at that. I think I'll hail a speeder and head back to base for the night."

"I'll escort you out!" Rey offered quite impulsively. She softly looped her arm through his.

Adem looked delighted. "Much obliged, Master Jedi."

The pair exited the reception hall and passed through the main foyer, then outside, arm in arm. Adem gave the high-sign to a landspeeder shuttle, before turning back to Rey and kissing her hand again.

"A pleasant evening to you, Mrs. Solo. Goodnight."

"Good...goodnight," Rey smiled weakly as she watched him safely enter the speeder and zoom off into the jungle trees for base a couple of parmiles away.

Feet aching, Rey wandered back into the reception hall, feeling a little lightheaded. Taking her own time getting back to the parlor, she leaned against a wall in the hallway to get her bearings when she thought she heard voices coming from around the next corner.

Creeping forward and peering around, Rey spotted Poe and Neek'o standing unusually close together in a dimly-lit alcove about halfway down the next corridor. Poe was up against the wall and Neek'o was practically leaning against him.

"Come on. Why is it so bad?" Neek'o actually caressed the pilot's handsome face. Rey fought to keep her expression placid. Neek'o was drunk - very.

For his part, Poe turned his head away, though the motion seemed to pain him and his glinting eyes appeared darker than normal as he got out, strangled, "You know why." It was barely more than a whisper.

Neek'o blinked rapidly, frowning. "No, I don't."

Poe shook his head. "If I look at you, I'll do something I'll regret."

Neek'o brought his face quite close, his voice an aroused hiss. "So look at me. Who says you'll regret it? The best moments in life are without it." So saying, cupping Poe's cheek to turn his face back to him, Neek'o covered the General's lips with his.

It took only a parsec before Poe's arms were about Neeko's waist, furiously kissing the Stormtrooper ex-pat back.

Having seen enough of an intensely private moment, Rey stole back to the reception hall via a roundabout way, her mind spinning. She shouldn't have been spying, and only had to wonder about how she would have felt if Poe had ever intruded on her and Ben kissing during a moment of intimacy. However much she hated the General, she wouldn't wish that kind of trespassing on anyone, not even him.

Arriving back at the party, Rey took a table in one corner to be by herself and ponder over what she had just seen. At this very moment, Poe was kissing a man who, not too long ago, would have once been considered their sworn enemy. Considering her own forbidden love with and marriage to an agent of the enemy, Poe's romantic inclination and decision to act on it made him a fool in love at best, and a hypocrite at worst. After all, he had been appalled and declared Rey's own marriage to her husband treasonous. Her and Poe's stolen and illicit kiss that one drunken night many moons ago only made the whole situation sit and fester all the more.

Even if Neek'o and Poe did embark on a relationship together, it was probably too much to hope for that her commanding officer would be blessed with a new understanding on the decisions Rey had made in her own love life. That required a self-awareness and humility that Poe decidedly did not possess. Feeling a headache coming on, Rey rested her face in her palm, nodding absently at the waiter who passed by with a full wineglass. She sipped from it conservatively.

Even so, she was half-asleep by the time she felt Finn carry her back to her rooms and pour her into bed, only able to murmur a sleepy goodnight and goodbye as the Ticos then departed for the hangar, where they would soon be heading offworld for their honeymoon. The second the hydraulic door closed behind her newly-married friend, Rey had sunk into a deep slumber.


	9. It's Quiet Uptown

**Chapter 9: It's Quiet Uptown**

"Mmmm... Hmmm... Uhhh... Ohhh... Huhh..."

The graying light was streaming in through the curtains of the Ticos' bedroom back on base, revealing Rose as she enthusiastically bounced up and down on her husband of only a couple weeks in a passionate display of making love. After their travels on their honeymoon, the exhausted new bride and wife had been surprised and delighted when Finn's kisses and wandering hands had woken her up; she had only been too happy to oblige his lust for her and need for some early-morning sex.

Dipping her head to kiss him thoroughly, Rose squealed and laughed in surprise when Finn suddenly flipped them both so that she now lay under him. Growling, her husband picked up the pace of his thrusts, putting his mouth to good use peppering her jaw line before eventually lavishing her plump breasts, taking one pebbling nipple between his teeth.

"Oooh... Oh, Gods, Finny, I'm so close, don't stop..." Rose squeaked breathlessly.

"Me... too..." Finn growled. "Force above, I love you... Rosie..." She could feel him shaking against her, and knew he really was on the edge. Sure enough, as he had done every night of shagging during their brief two weeks of marriage, Finn began to pull out like the gentleman he was.

This time, however, his beautiful and fierce wife wasn't having it, as she clamped down her thighs muscles around his torso.

"Rose... no..." Finn groaned. She just squeezed her powerful leg muscles tighter around him.

"Yes..." she hissed, rocking furiously against him. "Let's make a baby, Finn. I want your child deep inside me."

"Oh..." Finn groaned, thrusting faster, if also weaker. "You're so beautiful... Rose..." Another feeble slam, and then:

"ROSE!" Finn's body seized as he ejaculated hard within her soaked walls. Only then did his wife release him, Finn rolling off of her and the pair cleaning themselves after that hot, raw fuck. Turning his face back to hers, Rose softly kissed him, eyes shining brightly.

"I love shagging you," she sighed.

Finn chuckled. "Glad to have the ringing endorsement." He pecked her lips once. "Come on, love, get dressed. The mess hall breakfast hours are almost up."

The Ticos arrived for the morning meal rush with only minutes to spare. Entering the mess hall, Finn glanced up at the happy cry as Rey pelted the remaining distance and threw her arms around him.

"Welcome home!" she trilled, stepping out of his arms and turning to Rosie, the two girls air-kissing on both cheeks and all smiles.

"We missed you too, honey," Rose giggled.

"When did you get in?" Rey babbled, looping an arm through Finn's and guiding her friends to her table.

"Last night, late - _very_ late," Finn huffed as he swung his leg over the bench and took a seat. "The night watchman had to clear our ship at the landing platform."

Plopping beside Rose, Rey clutched at her best girlfriend's arm. "Tell me everything! Where did you go? Was it romantic?"

"Absolutely," Rose's eyes twinkled. "The Hanging Gardens on Naboo are to die for, Rey - just darling! The waters were so blue..."

"... and meadows as far as the eye could see!" Finn chimed in.

"Any particular place strike your fancy?" Rey queried. "Once the new government is established, you won't want to stay here to raise a family!"

"Solaris is beautiful, especially in the summertime," Finn took Rose's hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. "It would be a lovely place to settle down... wouldn't it, sweetheart?"

"Oh, of course," Rose buttered her roll with her free hand.

"Speaking of which," Rey jumped on, glancing down at Rose's flat belly. "Am I going to be an Auntie soon?"

"Patience, patience," Rose clucked. "Though... we have been trying." Next to her, her husband blushed, his grin dopey.

A lulling silence reigned for a moment. "Well... it was a lovely wedding," Rey sighed. "And that's saying something, since I had never been to a wedding before." Her heart twinged internally as she silently added, _Except my own_.

"What, so there were no nuptials on that rock you call a homeworld?" Finn chortled.

"Don't be cute," Rey scolded matronly, reaching around Rose to swat at her best friend, though her scowl was playful. "But no."

Finn hooted. "I should say not!" Then his gaze dimmed as he expressed, more somberly, "I hope that someday... we can be a part of your wedding. That is, if you ever decide to get married again."

Rey smiled sadly. "You're sweet," she reached a hand down the table and squeezed his. "But I doubt that I'll ever remarry, Finn."

Adem appeared just then, carrying a tray. "Morning, all," he greeted dolefully. "Lovely day." He took a seat directly across from Rey.

The Jedi took her eyes off her plate and smiled. "Hey, Adem."

Lifting her head just then, Rey's brown eyes narrowed at the pair just now entering the mess hall. Moments later, there was a thundering of feet as Poe broke away from Neek'o to tackle his best friend with a roar of delight.

"How was the trip?" the pilot boomed, plunking down at Finn's left, Neek'o following him.

"Wonderful! We saw everything!" Finn grinned. "But it's good to be home."

Neek'o sent Finn a friendly smile from around the thin strands of hair hanging into his eyes. "You must be tired. There's still plenty to do, though."

"Yeah... what did we miss...?"

As the men started chattering, Rose bent to retrieve a fork... and noted how Poe's fingers were laced through Neek'o's under the table. Popping back up, she whispered clandestinely to Rey at her right:

"Poe and Neek'o are holding hands... What's that about?"

Rey rolled her eyes hard as she took a bite of her bantha-milk oatmeal. "Don't start," she swallowed. "They've been thrashing about like a pair of wamp rats ever since you lovebirds left. Lovey-dovey eyes, the whole bit - it's getting on my nerves!" Lowering her voice, the Jedi gossiped, "They snogged first at your wedding reception, you know."

" _What_?!" Rose softly squeaked, gripping her arms. "Details!"

Rey shrugged. "I just saw them kiss, that's all. Frankly, Neek'o can have him - Poe's not exactly a stellar snogger, as I know from experience..." Glancing down the table, Rey's gaze happened to lock with Poe's. Freezing for a parsec, the pilot nodded curtly, a gesture Rey returned before turning back to her oatmeal, her mood sullied.

* * *

That evening saw the end of a long day on base. By the time he dragged himself into his apartment, Poe just wanted to collapse in a chair, in bed, anywhere and sleep for a day cycle or two.

"I'm home!" he called a greeting to Neek'o, stooping to kiss him quickly when his partner poked his head out of the fresher.

Neek'o noticed the bags under his eyes. "Long day?" he followed Poe into their bedroom.

Poe smiled wanly, flopping on the bed and making room when his boyfriend snuggled up to join him. It had been a whirlwind romance, to say the least, since the Ticos' wedding, and though it had frightened Poe at first, Neek'o had been unfailingly kind and patient.

It was a stark contrast to the attitude of a certain Jedi, whose frosty greeting of him still - nearly three months after Kylo Ren's death - had eaten away at him today more than it ever had.

Sighing heavily, Poe sat up against the headboard, crossing his arms in deep thought. Neek'o burrowed closer, frowning in concern. "What's wrong, sweet thing?" - a pet name that Poe secretly rather enjoyed.

The pilot ran a tired hand over his face. "Do you remember just after we met, and I told you that my scars were from an accident with some power converters and an open gas line?"

Neek'o perked up, grinning. "Excellent cocktail story, that."

Poe chuckled tightly. "It would be... if it were true." At Neek'o stilling against him, he winced with shame. "I haven't been completely honest with you... about what happened the night before you and Adem arrived on base."

Neek'o was now eyeing his lover warily. "Then what _did_ happen?"

Poe breathed deeply. "I killed Kylo Ren that night."

Neek'o lit up like a Yuletide tree. "Is that all?"

 _Hardly_ , Poe thought. "At least... I thought - I think I did."

Neek'o's expression flip-flopped again. "You _think_ or you _know_?"

Poe stared down into his lap, studying his hands folded there. "The night before you came... Kylo Ren invaded the base. My subordinates alerted me, and I caught him in the arms of the Jedi. I shot him in the back, and Rey held him as he died. And then, in a fit of rage, she electrocuted me with Sith Lightning."

Every muscle in Neek'o's face appeared slack-jawed. There was a long silence. Finally:

"That ice-cold _bitch_! OK, I'm sorry, but this actually explains a _lot_! I used to think that whenever she acted like she had a stick up her..."

"Must you be so crude...?"

"... that it was because you two used to have a thing or something, like you fucked her and then -"

"What? Gods, no!" Poe gawped. At his partner's raised eyebrow, he conceded, "We did kiss once, many months back."

"What the kriff for?" Neek'o bawled.

Poe shrugged. "I must have been drunk. I _was_ drunk, in fact."

Neek'o snorted. "Clearly. So wait, back up - the Supreme Asshole eats it while expiring in the arms of a beautiful maiden with no soul because... why? Was she in love with him, then?"

"More than that," Poe groaned. "Apparently, they had a Force Bond that allowed them to see each other in secret. They even got married - without telling anyone."

"It would be romantic if it wasn't so sick," Neek'o brooded darkly. "Ungrateful wretch! She should be thanking you, for ridding the Galaxy of Kylo Ren!"

"Enough with the language," Poe chided. "You know Rey about as little as I do."

"Why are you defending her? I repeat: you killed Kylo Ren!"

Poe froze Neek'o with a haunted look. "Did I?" Neek'o studied him warily. "Or did I kill Rey's husband, an innocent man named Ben Solo? Was Kylo Ren already dead, and I just refused to see it?" Staring down at his hands again as if he saw something monstrous there, Poe whimpered, tears swimming and threatening to spill. "Neek'o... I did something very wrong..."

Neek'o now appeared truly frightened, even as he started to piece it together. "Are you saying that Ben Solo... was Kylo Ren?"

Poe nodded numbly. "He was General Leia Organa's son. Only a few people knew about it; I was one of them." He folded into himself. "Did I doom that girl to being a widow and murder someone innocent? I never gave either of them a chance to explain!"

"If I'm following what you're saying correctly, Ben Solo _hardly_ sounds innocent," Neek'o pointed out dryly. "As Kylo Ren, he made lots of terrible choices - choices that wouldn't have been washed away in a day even if he _was_ on the base that night to, I don't know, defect. Turn to the Light Side?" The darker-skinned man flopped back into the pillows. "This is why I never paid much attention to all the Jedi and Sith and Force stuff. Too heady for me. Still... I'll concede, as someone who knows how you can shoot first and ask questions later..." (a potent pink bloomed on Poe's cheeks) "... maybe you were too quick on the draw."

"And now I can't take it back," Poe mumbled. "She won't even talk to me! Rey made it very clear she doesn't want anything to do with me ever again!"

"And you're surprised by this because...?"

Poe burst into tears. "I just want to say I'm sorry!"

There was a long silence broken only by the sound of the pilot's sobs. At last, Neek'o stole an arm around his shoulder, rocking him gently as he stared off, biting his lip in thought.

"Then maybe you should," the ex-Stormtrooper said at last. "Maybe you now understand why Rey could love someone who was once the enemy because you do now, too." Neek'o gestured to himself. "That's why you feel guilty, among other reasons." A silent Poe didn't dispute him. "Tell Rey that you want to talk. Then leave the ball in her court. Maybe she'll surprise you with how she answers."

Poe shook his head heavily, as though it was water-logged. "It's too late."

"Is it?" Neek'o challenged. "In my experience, darling, it's _never_ too late, and I'm living proof. So is Adem. Hell, so is Finn, and he's your best friend. And if Rey truly thought it wasn't too late for Ben to change... maybe she'll think it isn't too late for either of you to change each other - for the better." When Poe stayed deathly still, actively hanging on every word, Neek'o grinned and patted his shoulder, satisfied. "I'll fix you a drink?"

"Coreillian whiskey... would be lovely," Poe gratefully choked out. And his partner left him alone to his thoughts.

* * *

The very next morning, Poe hovered at the edge of the hangar bay, unsure whether to approach the waifish Jedi girl currently halfway under a troublesome Bespin cruiser. From what he had heard from Finn, Lando had given Rey a job fixing up ships run-down from the final, furious battles of the war. Every few minutes, Rey would emerge to chat animatedly with Adem, who had been leaning against the hull for at least the past hour cycle, making small talk.

Remembering what Neek'o had said, Poe took a sharp breath, steeled his nerves. "I must be out of my mind," he mumbled, and strode towards the Bespin cruiser as Rey rolled out from under it.

"Hey, Rey."

Adem and Rey's chittering abruptly ceased and Rey slowly turned to eye Poe warily. "Hey." Her voice was cool.

Clearing sensing the tension and glancing curiously between the two of them, Adem's icy blue eyes narrowed. "Everything all right, Rey?"

"Yesss..." Rey drew out slowly, not taking her eyes off the pilot. "There's no problem, Adem, don't worry."

"Um..." Poe scratched at the back of his neck. "I was hoping we could talk in private?"

After a long moment, Rey nodded, face leery. Adem graciously ceded the floor, hands raised peacefully. "I won't overstay my welcome."

Turning to him, Rey's eyes appeared stricken for a parsec, as if unsure whether she wanted the handsome Stormtrooper to go. Adem just smiled at her soothingly. "It'll be OK, Rey. Meet you with Finn and Rose for supper?"

Biting her lip, Rey nodded. Adem looked buoyant. "Brilliant. See you then." And he strolled away.

As soon as Adem was gone, Rey rounded on her commanding officer, arms folded and her face in a permanent scowl. "What do you want, Poe?"

"Well... I have this... astromech here." As both a peace offering and a starting-off point, Poe had brought along with him a rusty and dilapidated yellow-and-green astromech droid, which now rolled forward on unsteady treads. Its beeping seemed off when it chirped a greeting. "I was hoping you might be able to take a look at her."

Frowning at him suspiciously, Rey knelt next to the robot, examining it. "Let's see what we've got here... Hmm... the opto-fusillator is busted... and the copper wiring to its sound system has been compromised..." She glanced at the droid's treads. "And its contact-tracers are practically falling off! She'll be a labor of love, this one."

"I'll pay you in credits," Poe smiled hopefully.

At this, Rey stiffened. "I don't want your blood money, Dameron." Her voice was dangerously low and as chilly as the winter wind.

However, at this, Poe saw an opportunity and he seized it. "I should at least compensate you in some way!"

Rey stood, eyeing him distrustfully. "What did you have in mind? Not a warm night in bed, I hope, because I doubt Neek'o would appreciate cheating, and frankly, I don't want to shag you..."

"No, no, nothing like that at all!" Poe cringed. His face relaxed back into something hopeful. "I was thinking... a walk, perhaps? We could talk? Tonight, after your shift."

Rey peered at him dubiously for several long moments. Though her brown eyes relaxed, her expression remaind doubtful as she stated flatly, "My rotation cycles off at 0700. Pick me up here. We can go to the far landing platform."

Poe nearly sighed with relief. "Brilliant. See you then."

As he started to walk away, Rey called after him, "Who should I give the droid to once I'm done with her?"

Poe smirked back over his shoulder. "Keep it. It was abandoned, about to be sold for parts." And he sauntered away, terrified and exhilarated at the same time.

* * *

Poe's stomach felt incredibly tight when he circled back around to collect Rey from the hangar bay at the end of her shift. She appeared spent, but filled with accomplishment, as the yellow-and-green astromech droid did happy doughnuts at her feet, good as new. Smiling nervously, Poe gestured to the hangar bay doors, looking out at the setting sun and jungle beyond. "Shall we?"

Rey nodded tightly.

It was a long walk to the far landing platform, one not often used and that would therefore ensure privacy, and despite this, neither Jedi nor General spoke. Finally arriving on it and settling themselves down at the edge, Poe surveyed the spectacular view as he pulled a long bottle of liquor from his bag. Rey eyed it nervously, recalling along with him another night very much like this one.

"You aren't going to get me drunk and have your way with me, are you? My needs have been met just fine, thanks -"

"By who?" Poe sniped back without any bite. "Adem?"

"No!" Rey stared, though even in the fireball of late evening, he thought he saw her cheeks flush fuschia. "Adem and I are just friends."

Poe didn't challenge this any further as he tugged the whiskey cork loose with his teeth. Throwing his head back, he took a long pull from the thing. "Don't worry, Jedi, this is mostly for me. Eating crow almost always requires something to wash it down with. In other words, getting plastered." Still, he held the booze out to her anyway, and when she didn't take it, he set it down between them. "You can have some if you want."

Rey eyed the bottle like it was a thermal detonator, but when Poe turned away to face the horizon, he noted how she eventually took a dainty sip out of the corner of his eye. Wiping her mouth, Rey passed the bottle back to him.

"OK: talk," she prompted.

Poe's tongue chose this moment to get stuck on the roof of his mouth. All the rehearsing of what he thought he could possibly say went out the window, to be replaced by a deep-seated terror as she stared him down. He bought himself time by taking another long swig from the whiskey bottle. The alcohol burned his throat, and his eyes watered... though, he found, not entirely on account of the strength of the stuff.

A single thought popped into his head. "I killed your husband." His voice was a raspy croak.

The very air seemed to still along with Rey. "Yes, I know," she appraised him coolly, still not entirely certain if this was a trick. "I was there."

"I killed your husband, Ben - not Kylo Ren... that night." Poe dared to meet her eyes. "Isn't that right?" At her slow nod, he sipped from the bottle again, forked it over to her. He had a feeling she'd need it. Just as he predicted, Rey took a hearty gulp from it. Her large brown eyes swam with tears. "If you brought me here to relive the worst night of my life, well then, sorry, but I don't know why you bothered..." She squirmed in what looked like an intent to get up, but Poe's voice - strangled - stopped her.

"Ben wasn't there to invade the base that night... was he?" Not quite up off the ground, Rey rocked back on her heels, drawing her knees up to her chest in a pathetic attempt to hug herself. A sob bubbled up, and she barely kept it in, shaking her head. "No..." she moaned. Head snapping to glare at him, fire burned in her eyes just as strongly as the alcohol and anger now burned through her blood. "You and Snap set him up! I heard the story Wexley planted out there: that you had a gun, and how he claimed that I was dead! That you shot me!"

Poe moaned and dug his fingers into his scalp, head between his knees. "We both know I shot you... but not to kill you. Snap only said that to twist the knife in right befoe you and Ben's connection broke."

Rey regarded him hatefully. "You tortured Ben, and me. You tortured _us_." Her teeth bared. "You killed my love."

Poe nodded contritely, guiltily. "I see that now."

"Oh, do you?" Rey's voice raised a few decibels. "Why? Because you've now gone a couple rounds in bed with a Stormtrooper? Think sleeping with the enemy is fine and dandy once _you've_ gotten a taste of it?"

"Please don't bring Neek'o into this," Poe warned. "You're not wrong... but pleae don't bring him into this. This is about you and me."

"You're damn right it is," Rey snarled. She scoffed in disgust. "I can't believe I ever actually let you kiss me..."

"As I recall, you kissed me back that night!" Poe's tone laced with annoyance.

"You were drunk -"

"Not exactly a faithful wife then, were you?"

"I wasn't _married_ then," Rey corrected the record. "And I only kissed you back to protect Ben - both then and the night you tortured us about our Bond."

Poe grew quiet, staring down the neck of the bottle. "Yeah," he sighed heavily. "I came to figure as much." A elongated pause, and then he floated: "Was I at least a decent kisser?"

"Oh, shut up," Rey scoffed, glancing away. A beat, then: "You were decent enough that when Ben got wind of that first time, he was in a jealous rage for the better part of a day cycle after."

Another stretch of quiet. Then Poe asked, "Can I ask a personal question?"

"You might as well after that set-up," Rey huffed resignedly.

"When _did_ you and Ben get married?"

"The night after the Stormtrooper battalion attack; we were alone in my room. No witnesses," Rey huffed impatiently. "Now what do you want, Poe?" She cocked an impatient eyeborw. "What did you come here to say?"

The tears streamed down Poe's cheeks. "I came to ask for your forgiveness." His voice was incredibly small.

Studying him in almost disbelief, Rey finally regarded him sadly. Looked at him like he was a fool. She shook her head. "Murderer..." she rumbled. "If you think I'n going to forgive you... after what you did to Ben - what you did to _us_ \- you'll be asking for a very, very long time -"

"I'm asking for your forgiveness for the things I made _you_ do," Poe clarified. The alcohol had really loosened his tongue; he was surprised he was still managing to be this coherent. "Like using you as a pawn to win a war. Get revenge on Kylo Ren. You don't need to forgive me for what I did to Ben. I know you never would. It's probably better that you don't."

The night was still for many, many long moments - an eternity, it seemed - before Poe raised his bloodshot eyes to Rey, beseeching. She was regarding him with something that almost resembled pity. As Poe watched, a single tear blazed a pathway down her cheek.

"I don't know if I can..." she whispered, pained. Poe hung his head, defeated. "...but I will anyway."

He glanced up again, shocked. Rey was staring at him, crying profuesly now. "I forgive you. For what you did to _me_. But I won't forget."

Poe nodded, his countenance - and his conscience - lighter. "I can live with that," he mumbled. He offered her his hands. "Friends?"

She studied him for a long time. It seemed absurd that she would befriend the man who had killed her husband - something that she hadn't absolved him of with her forgiveness - and yet...

Rey nodded, expression blank, and shook Poe's offered hand. "Friends," she murmured softly.

Poe smiled with profound gratefulness, hastily wiping at his eyes. Lumbering to his feet, he swayed for a moment, hand to his head, feeling woozy. "Whoo... that Alderaanian liquor does things to you."

Rey actually laughed. "You mean to tell me you took this from Leia's personal stash?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Rey," he winked.

She giggled, and for the first time, she smiled at him. "Clearly. Think you can get home to Neek'o all right?"

"Sure," Poe waved her off. Then he paused to give her a genuine smile of goodwill. "Good night... Mrs. Solo." Satisfied at the warm blush that stained her cheeks, he lumbered off.

Rey watched him go curiously, and for the first time since Ben's death... she felt a little lighter too. The yellow-and-green astromech wheeled up to her, chittering with a thousand questions that would no doubt last long after the astromech accompained her back to her room for the night. "Yes, GeeBee," Rey affirmed. "Poe and I are friends."


	10. Secrets of the First Order

**Chapter 10: Secrets of the First Order**

Dr. Kalonia studied the blood sample work of Finn and Rose Tico as the couple sat together on the hospital bed, their hands joined, clasping each other like a lifeline. They had been trying for months to start a family, and still no baby. After this latest appointment that had shown Rose a negative pregnancy test once again, Kalonia had asked for both the Ticos to come in for some blood sample work, run some tests.

From the way Kalonia was frowning at the data computer, it was clear that what she had found had concerned her. Letting out a low hiss, she turned to Finn.

"Mr. Tico, samples of your blood show that you are producing white and red blood cells at a normal and healthy rate... but our scanners seem to have discovered something else."

What little color that was left drained from Finn's face. "What is it, Doctor?"

"There... appears to be an implant inside you. From additional tests we've been able to perform on your blood and prostate, it would appear that the implant has sterilized you. As it stands now, you cannot produce children."

Rose clapped a hand over her mouth as she let out a strangled sob. Finn slumped against her, gaze unseeing and distant.

"The First Order did this..." he murmured. Since his earliest days in the Sanitation Corps and FN-Division, Captain Phasma and the other leaders had preached and encouraged sexual abstinence among the ranks. Finn should have known that more active approaches would be taken to stifle sexual activity besides the occassional seminar classes and the almost non-existent presence of female Stormtroopers. Of course, he suspected that there had been some troopers of the same-sex orientation who would have been able to work around these strictures, and an implant would have had little effect on them. That point reminded him of Neek'o, and he turned to Kalonia earnestly.

"Doctor, there are currently two of my former comrades living here on base: Adem, formerly ADM-4548 and Neek'o, formerly NK-0809. It might be beneficial to search and see if they have these implants as well."

"Thank you, Lieutenant General. I will send for them immediately."

Later that day, Neek'o, Adem, Poe and Rey had all joined the Ticos and Kalonia in that hospital room. Neek'o had insisted that the General come along, on the grounds that anything that affected him as a Stormtrooper held implications of galactic security, especially if it was likely that more troopers would rebel in the coming days and weeks, as they already had been. Adem had been tracked down taking a walk with Rey and when he had asked her to come along, she had agreed, though worried.

"I've never liked hospitals," Adem shifted from foot to foot, looking the most unnerved that Rey had ever seen him. "I muddled through the yearly physicals in the Stormtrooper program, but this..."

Rey laid a gentle hand on his arm. "It's all right, Adem. You did wonderful."

Adem snorted, sending her a small smirk. "Define wonderful." When Dr. Kalonia had taken his blood sample, he had momentarily passed out. A splash of cold water had been needed to revive him.

Dr. Kalonia entered just then. From the look on her face, there was grave news, but also a slight puzzlement in her eyes.

"A sterilization implant has been detected in Mr. Neek'o here..." (Neek'o looked crestfallen, Poe gazing at him with sympathy) "... but not in Mr. Adem."

Everyone glanced to Adem in surprise, Kalonia's stare holding the intrigue of a scientist. It would seem that there would be no easy answers in solving this mystery; they were just as lost as they had been before.

Rey worried her bottom lip. "Why would that be?" Poe helplessly shrugged.

Adem's rusty-colored eyebrows furrowed for a long moment, deep in thought. Though Stormtroopers they all had been, what made him different from Finn and Neek'o?

A possible answer came to him. "Neek'o, what was your rank and designation when we were on active duty?"

Neek'o blinked. "Private, Engineering Corps. Why?"

Adem didn't answer, simply turning to Finn. "Lieutenant General Tico?"

"Private, Sanitation. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I was ranked a Brigadier General in the Officers Division. We were always granted special privileges as opposed to who we called 'the plebes'." He gestured at Neek'o and Finn. "So..."

"So maybe one of those privileges was that troopers in the Officers Division weren't given the implant!" Rey finished for him.

"But what would be the rationale for that?" Poe pondered aloud. "To create an underclass of Stormtroopers based on contrived social structures, like sexual potency?" His expression appeared disgusted.

"Perhaps," Kalonia conceded. "It _is_ an interesting hypothesis."

"What does it matter, though?" Neek'o leaned against one wall. "If people like Phasma and Hux can place implants inside me and Finn, it stands to reason that they can be taken out again. Maybe that would reverse the effects."

"If only that were so, Mr. Neek'o," Kalonia bemoaned. "But even if I could take the implant out of you, the effects of sterilization would be all too permanent. Aside from that, I would be loathe to try."

"Why not?"

"The risks of such a procedure would give you around a 50% chance of survival - little better than a credit toss."

Neek'o turned green. "Sorry I asked."

Poe was resting his chin on his hand, mind whirring. "There are going to be more Stormtroopers who turn Resistance," he mused. "They haven't found their way to base yet, but they will. And it's their right to know everything that they were subjected to under the First Order regime." He glanced up at Adem. "Would you know anything about the keeping of Stormtrooper medical records?"

"Not much," Adem conceded. "Though I was always told that those kinds of files were kept on a remote asteroid - Polis Massa."

"Perfect," Poe stood. "Officer Adem, I hereby order you to go to Polis Massa and investigate."

Adem saluted. "As you wish, Commander."

"Oh, and take Rey with you. She'll help and I'm sure she would appreciate a change of scene."

Rey beamed gratefully, pleased. "Thank you, Poe," she expressed, and warmly kissed him on the cheek. Both Neek'o and Adem frowned.

"I'll commission you both use of the Millennium Falcon for your journey. Gather your things and prepare to depart from Hangar B at 0200. Dismissed."

"Come on." Adem held his hand out to Rey and tugged her out of the hospital room. Watching them go, Neek'o drifted over to Poe's side.

"When you told me you two made up, I didn't think you meant _that_ well."

"Oh, don't be a Jealous George," Poe smiled at him fondly. "And not all of our dirty laundry was aired out, I assure you."

An exhuasted Rose finally willed herself to rise from the hospital bed. "Well," she murmured half to herself, her expression in some strange halfway land between blank and dazed. "I better get back to that Coruscanti freighter I was working on." Turning back to her husband, she passionately kissed him goodbye. "You know I'll always love you." And she almost floated out of the med ward.

"What's the matter with her?" Neek'o wondered out loud.

"Honey, please be more tactful. She's still in shock. She and her husband can't have children. How do you think _you'd_ feel?"

Neek'o's face fell in empathy at his partner's admonishment. Poe sighed.

"OK, you two: huddle up!" He gathered Finn and Neek'o around him. "I've received classified intelligence about a First Order remnant that could still pose a threat if we don't neutralize it."

Finn's eyes gleamed. "What kind of remnant?"

"A biological weapon. We have reason to believe there are stores of the deceased Supreme Leader's DNA kept hidden on a planet, south of the Rishi Maze satellite galaxy."

Finn frowned. "So, like... the Unknown Regions?"

"Farther than that," Neek'o whistled. "The Rishi Maze is just beyond the official borders of this galaxy."

Poe nodded in approval. "I have authorized a mission to go to this planet and destroy the Supreme Leader's DNA supply. You, Finn and Snap Wexley will accompany me."

"What's the planet?" Finn asked.

Poe held his eyes. "Kamino."

* * *

Adem was in a surlier mood, Rey noted, when she met back up with him in Hanger Bay B to depart on their mission. She had always appreciated how polite and soft-spoken Adem was, but as they stocked the _Falcon_ 's quarters and arranged the pre-flight checks, she found him almost disturbingly quiet, and on the rare moment when he did speak, it was brusque.

"Can you help me with this oscillator?" Rey asked him, straining to tweak a component that was too high for her to reach.

Adem came up behind her, twisted the oscillator bolt tight with the Harris wrench, then slid abruptly past her on his way towards the cockpit. "That should do it," he grunted.

Rey frowned. What was up with him today? He hadn't been like this just this morning, when he had asked her to accompany him on a brief stroll after breakfast before insisting on escorting her to her first shift in Lando's personal hangar. They had engaged in such lovely conversation, and were only interrupted in Adem dropping her off by Threepio, come to tell them that Dr. Kalonia had requested their presence.

Adem was mute throughout all the rest of the pre-flight check, slumping back in Chewie's co-pilot seat and letting Rey deftly navigate the famed freighter out of Ajan Kloss's atmosphere. Leaping the hyperspace, Rey switched the _Falcon_ onto autopilot as Adem unbuckled from his seat and stalked back towards the captain's quarters. Losing patience, Rey followed the handsome, redheaded ex-Stormtrooper, confronting him by the fresher door.

"What is your problem? You seemed fine on our walk this morning, but ever since we got called into that meeting with Kalonia..." she shook her head. She had a feeling it had nothing to do with the mission. Adem had appeared proud and pleased that Poe had entrusted him with such a task, only a handful of months after becoming Resistance.

Adem's impossibly blue eyes wouldn't meet her probing stare. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well, tough, Mr. Brigadier General. Friends talk through things with one another." Retreating from her harsh tone, Rey brushed her fingers along his jawline, turning his face to make him look at her. It was a remarkably intimate gesture, but she had done it before to help Ben open up, whenever her husband had been particularly angry. "If you're hurting, let me help."

Adem's strong brow unclenched for just a bit, so that a strange vulnerability appeared in his gaze. Next parsec, however, the stewing was back, as he suddenly blurted out, "Since when did you and the General become so chummy? I thought you hated him!"

Rey blinked, thrown by the outburst. "I did. Poe and I have a really complicated relationship, with a lot of hurt and baggage, and we've only been able to mend some of it!"

Adem snorted scoffingly. "It's complicated..."

"It's true!" Rey gawked at him. "What, are you jealous or something?"

"No!" Adem blasted, too quickly. "Why would I be? It's just that you're... better than that, is all. Could do better."

Rey cocked an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips. "Force, Adem, sometimes you can be so dense! If you stopped for two parsecs, you would see that Poe wouldn't look twice at me because he doesn't swing that way! You would see that he and Neek'o have been eye-fucking each other for the past... four months!"

"He still kissed you, though, didn't he?" Adem insisted. "Dameron?"

Rey leaned back, stung. "Where did you hear that?"

"There've been rumors... plenty of gossip..." Adem muttered. Meeting her gaze again, the poor man now looked more than stung. He appeared... desperate. It frightened Rey, a little. "Rey..." But Adem didn't say anything further as he suddenly braced her up against the fresher door and kissed her squarely on the mouth.

Adem's lips were energetic, unyielding, but soft against her own. At his kiss, Rey's eyes popped open and she mewled out a whimpering squeak. "Mmmm! Hmmm!" It was all she could do to have her hands find the rippling muscles in his biceps, if for no other reason than to balance herself. Her large brown eyes darting to where Adem had pressed his lips to hers, she held the kiss, uncertain how else she should respond. But before Rey could decide to push him away, Adem released her, her lips disentangling form his with a loud POP!

Stunned, Rey licked her tongue out over her pink, flushed, kiss-swollen lips, smacking them together and considering the taste. Her brain had drawn a blank beyond weighing how she felt about the kiss, whether she liked it or resented it. Adem was a rougher kisser than Ben had ever been, and the liplocks with Poe had been ho-hum. As she only had two other men to compare him to, Rey had to quietly admit that kissing Adem... was fine.

Lifting her luminous brown orbs to his, pretty mouth agape, Adem's expression was wild, panting.

"Anything?"

She blinked rather rapidly, not quite getting his meaning. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come now, Rey, don't you get it? You have to know I'm completely besotted with you!"

Though astonished, Rey smiled, turning pink at the compliment. In any case, she was truly flattered. Her mind still a tempest, she remained silent until Adem awkwardly mumbled, "I'll go check on the autopilot."

As he left, he didn't see Rey licking her lips again, her mouth softly upturning into a tentative smile.

* * *

Rey and Adem didn't talk about the kiss they had shared for the rest of the trip to Polis Massa. They didn't talk at all, really, as Rey spent much of the remaining time in hyperspace sequestered in the fresher, contemplating the mirror and organizing her thoughts.

It had been a good kiss, a nice kiss, she told herself. But it had also been the first time she had ever kissed a man since her husband, and that's what frightened her. Ben had only been parted from this galaxy for four or five months - as his widow, Rey was far from being through with the grieving process. Then again, whoever was? Could it really be so inconsequential to take a new lover, potentially start... something, something like a romantic relationship, with a man she had only known for that same amount of time? A man whom she had met when her marriage had been violently annulled by a blaster bolt mere hours before?

Rey had never been very good at romance. Fortunately for her, neither had her husband. She and Ben had progressed through their whirlwind courtship without fully knowing what they were doing. Yet the Jedi wasn't naive. She knew there were rules to this kind of interaction, signs. Had she simply missed them, where Adem was concerned? She'd be lying if she said she wasn't flattered, by his attentions. And his words were kind, the way that he had expressed himself adorable: _I'm completely besotted with you_... Rey smiled again at that.

So what was holding her back, other than the ghost of her Ben haunting her, if not yet in a physical sense, then in a metaphorical one? Studying her reflection in the fresher mirror, and intermittently splashing water on her face (she still felt strangely hot from that locking of lips, even hours later), Rey was able to rehearse in her mind what she ought to say, how she was flattered and touched but ultimately not looking for a new relationship so soon after the death of her spouse. But she couldn't bear to say those words out loud, to Adem's face - it would break his heart. And she didn't want to - say the words or anything else.

Rey's thoughts were jostled along with the rest of the ship, as it shuddered to a slower cruising speed while dropping out of hyperspace. Tidying herself up, she headed back up to the cockpit to find Adem releasing the autopilot. He started, shakily standing and finding it hard to look at her. Rey wasn't sure why, and she smiled at him so as to put his mind at ease.

"Just in time. We're on final approach to Polis Massa."

"Thank you," she expressed to him kindly, keeping her eyes bright and her smile warm. Adem blushed as red as his hair then shimmied past her to perhaps use the fresher himself. Rey gazed after him tenderly. One way or another, they would talk - really talk - about the moment they had shared. At least, once Rey had decided what in the Seven Hells of Mustafar she was going to say.

The _Falcon_ swooped into the Polis Massa asteroid field, taxing towards the biggest space object of the same name, which housed a state-of-the-art medical center. Adem rejoined Rey in the cockpit as they descended low.

Rey peered out the viewfinder. "It's so quiet."

"It used to be a more bustling medical center, during the Clone Wars," Adem informed her helpfully. "For the First Order's purposes, it was the perfect warehouse for medical files. Out-of-the-way. I don't think anyone's regularly been here in years."

Essentially abandoned though it might have been, Rey nearly snarled at the passage-restricted landing platform looming up before them. Adem just calmly pulled out a tiny disc and held it up through the viewfinder. The red landing lights clicked from red to green. Adem flipped the disc like he would a credit coin, smiling in satisfaction.

"I knew there was a reason I didn't throw away my First Order medallion." He grinned over at Rey, obviously looking more relaxed since their stolen kiss. She weakly smiled back and set the Falcon's landing gear for final descent.

Touching down, the freighter's hydraulic doors lowered as Adem and Rey disembarked. Striding towards the set of hydraulic glass double doors, Adem flashed his medallion again, and the doors whoosed open.

Rey couldn't help but be impressed. "If only we had known about one of these to steal it and break in places. The war might have ended a lot more quickly."

"Yes," Adem smirked at her. Turning right down a corridor, he spotted the door to a storage room marked MEDICAL FILES. "Ah, here we are."

Out came the medallion, and the door granted them passage. The pair emerged into a whitewashed room with a circular holoprojector situated at the center of a table back against the far wall. At this, Rey pulled up short.

"For a database like this, we'll need a slicer..." Her voice trailed off as Adem simply pulled out the medallion yet again.

"Match. ADM-4548, Brigadier General," an automated voice beeped. A blue projection of holofile folders beamed up before them.

"That medallion does everything, doesn't it?" Rey beamed.

"Better than any old ID doc," Adem quipped, as he began to rifle through the files. Nodding in satisfaction, he held out his palm. "If you have a data chip, we can transfer the files there."

Digging in her pocket, Rey was just about to hand it to him, when Adem slowed in his swiping, frowning. "Wait a minute... Officer Corps, Medical Files..."

The folder took him down a rabbit hole, and he began to fly his fingers over the files in earnest. "ADM-4649..." he muttered, double-clicking. At Rey's inquisitive stare, Adem shrugged. "My friend. He achieved Major General rank. We called him Biden."

"Easy to remember," Rey shrugged.

"Yeah," Adem sighed, his voice growing sad. "He picked that name because it was apparently the same as his hometown, which was all he could remember of his old life, before the Stormtrooper Corps. He... he died in a raid gone bad, on Barkesh, about a year cycle ago."

Heart breaking for him, Rey tenderly touched his elbow. "I'm sorry."

He turned to look at her softly, and Rey had to turn her face away, blushing. Adem returned his focus to his friend's file. "Hold on: Sterilization Implant... Engaged?" His face went slack in confusion. "How is that possible? Officers weren't supposed to have those implants..."

"... which was only just a guess on our part," Rey reminded him. "Sounds like your theory's a bust."

"Maybe so, but then... why would Biden have the implant... but not me?"

"Search your file," Rey tapped him on the shoulder.

Adem did more than search his file. He searched the the files of every single soldier in the ADM Unit, and then the Officers Corps. Every single one came back with the same answer: Sterilization Implant Engaged. He finally clicked on his own file - ADM-4548. Finally, Adem froze, his face turning white.

Rey frowned, touching his arm again. "Adem? What is it?"

"Sterilization Implant... None."

Rey felt her stomach tighten. "Does your file give a reason?"

Adem scanned down the type, then the HTML code of the type, searching for some kind of bug. He found nothing. "No." He now looked deeply worried, and more than a little fascinated, though in a fearful way. "Why would I be the only exception to the rule governing my corps and every other corps and unit of the Order?"

The Force nudged at Rey's brain, providing her with a name that Finn had once mentioned to her in passing, long ago. "How powerful was Captain Phasma?"

Adem studied her curiously. "Very," he relayed. "At the time of Starkiller Base, she was fourth in the line of succession, behind only Snoke, Kylo Ren and -"

"Hux," Rey breathed, remembering the name of her husband's troublesome general. "Search up Armitage Hux's medical file."

"Rey -"

"Just do it."

Adem obeyed reluctantly, finally finding it in a holofile folder marked High Command.

"Sterilization Implant: None," Adem read. "Of course not, there wouldn't be, would there? High Command wouldn't play by the same set of rules that governed the rest of us. They... Wait:"

That last word was chilly, laced with a terror too all-encompassing to name. Adem now appeared frozen where he stood. "Rey," he finally breathed. "There's a holopic of me... in Hux's file. Under a section line labeled... Children..."

Rey's breath stilled, and she nudged in to get a better look. She gulped. "Click the holopic," she whispered.

Hands shaking, Adem did. He was taken to a page that appeared similar to his medical file in the Officers Corps holofile folder, but was not the same. This one gave information like date of birth, homeworld (Arkanis) and a name...

"Cassius Hux," Adem breathed, staring at a picture of himself.

Rey gulped. "Adem..." she murmured. "How old do you think you are?"

"About 20," his voice was breathless. "So Hux would have been -"

"A teenager at the time, but certainly old enough to impregnate some girl."

Adem staggered back a step, eyes wide and fixed on a point far, far away.

"That's why I have no Sterilization Implant," he voiced, only half to himself. "My father didn't want his bloodline snipped off, so he must have pulled strings to make me an exception. But... he still gave me to the First Order... and slavery."

Gazing at him, Rey's cheeks were now streaked with tears. "Adem, I'm so sorry..."

Hunching forward, hands idle and listless, Adem's palm bumped the holoprojector and sent him into another file...

... which just happened to be Kylo Ren's. Rey's heart stopped as she watched Adem spot the given name of her husband on the line: Ben Solo.

"You..." Adem turned to stare at her, speechless. "You were married... to Kylo Ren?"

Rey gulped. "I was married to Ben Solo, whose alter ego was Kylo Ren. I fell in love with the man he was, not what he became." Wordlessly, she took his arm. "Back to the _Falcon_."

She transferred all of the medical files onto the data chip in a fog. Racing back into the freighter and taking off, Rey sent them into hyperspace before wandering back to the hull, where Adem was hunched dejectedly at the dejarik table. Sliding into the booth next to him, Rey leaned against him. The only thing worse still than realizing you were born a nobody (like she was) was learning that you were descended from evil incarnate. Her heart went out to him.

"Adem..." she cooed. "None of this is your fault."

"No. Just that my father's a monster who wiped out an entire star system," Adem bemoaned self-loathingly as he scooted out of the booth, Rey following him concernedly. It felt like deja-vu to her, for she had had similar conversations like this with Ben - many times, her husband convinced that he was some twisted creature deserving of punishment and scorn. And all because of who his ancestor was...

"And why should that matter?" she caught up to him just outside the door to Han's quarters.

"Because it does!" Adem whirled around to face her. "My father is responsible for the annihilation of the entire Hosnian people! Whereas you, come to find out, were married to the child of heroes! No wonder you don't feel the same about me - you're still grieving for a husband you loved more than anyone, I bet. Why would you want to be with a bastard child of a devil like me?"

"That's not true, Adem!" Rey said vehemently. "Not any of it. You are more than a bastard child. Your father was the devil, not you! And... and I never said I didn't want to be with you." The last part was small, but she kept her gaze resolutely on him, to see his irises widen in surprise. Then he smiled sadly.

"It's OK, Rey, to still love and want your husband."

"Adem..." she started.

"Ben might have made some bad choices as Kylo Ren, but you still loved him. He mattered to you..."

"Adem," Rey tried again.

"If you can't see yourself moving beyond him... I understand."

He started to move away, past her.

It happened so fast, Rey didn't have time to second-guess herself. Frustrated, she slammed Adem up against the door and looped her hands around his neck to bring his lips down hard against hers as she fiercely kissed him. Her brown eyes closed instantly.

Adem remained frozen against her for a parsec or two, until with a groan, his arms greedily encircled her waist and pulled Rey closed as he kissed her back. His strong, calloused hands quickly wander, taking the liberties to clutch and squeeze the globes of her perfectly toned buttocks, first one arse cheek and then the other. Purring happily, Rey willed herself to break the kiss to peer into Adem's eyes. The man appeared thunderstruck.

"You love me for me..." he realized on his own. "Because I'm just me. It's just me."

Peering at him, smirking in bemusement, Rey let a dainty hand caress its way through the fiery strands of Adem's hair, contemplating each lock as she sized him up. Gazing into his icy-blue eyes, her face broke out into a happy smile as she made her decision. If he still wanted her, well then, she would give herself to him - a good and decent man who she could build a life with from the ashes of war.

"Yes... it _is_ you!"

A smile - an unburdened smile - graced Adem's face as his large hand reached up to cradle Rey's cheek. Leaning into the touch with a shy smile, Rey felt her eyelids droop heavily as she leaned forward. Adem dipped his head towards her, and once again, their lips met, Rey's mouth falling open to let his tongue touch hers.

The kiss quickly deepened, Rey's fingers digging into Adem's hair as she tugged him close with a _groan_. "Mmmmhmmmm..." Letting him feel up her arse again, the Jedi quickly swung her leg high to hook it around his torso, locking their pelvises together. An excited, bloated thing pressed between her thighs, and with her free hand, she gallingly cupped it in her fist.

Rey and Adem snapped apart, panting, brown and blue sets of eyes now positively black with lust.

"Bedroom" Rey wheezed, before diving in for another wild kiss and climbing her handsome Stormtrooper like a tree, moaning into his plunderng mouth all the while. "Hmmm... Mmmm... Kiss me..." she whispered.

Adem staggered them back into Han Solo's former quarters, depositing Rey grandly on the mattress. Crawling back seductively to the headboard as her lover clambered after her, Rey bit her lip shyly as she opened her legs invitingly. Hovering over her, Adem kissed her again, softer this time, and Rey sank into it with a sigh.

"You - Mmmm... you can - you can touch me," Rey panted.

With her permission, Adem didn't need to be told twice. He cupped her breasts, weighing them in his palms before strangely drawing back, as if afraid she didn't approve. In answer, Rey rammed her lips against his again, as she also shoved her breasts back into his gentle palms.

"Hmmmm... yes, more, please," she rasped.

Crawling between her spread legs, settling between her knees, Rey and Adem continued to make out in little, feverish pecks, peeling off each layer of clothing item by item. The articles tumbled into a heap on the floor at the foot of the bed until at last, both were naked.

Staring at each other, Rey slowly took Adem's throbbing member in her fist and guided it to her soaking wet center. Lining him up with her entrance, she eagerly pulled him inside her as Adem moved to kiss her neck. Rey tilted her throat back to grant him better access as her skull flopped back into the pillow with a content sigh.

Feeling her walls close in around him, Adem groaned into Rey's shoulder. Hands fisting the pillow framing her pretty head until his knuckles turned white, Adem held the Jedi's gaze as he began to thrust in and out, driving deeper and deeper with each new burst of confidence. Rey eagerly lifted her hips to match him, thrust for thrust, chocolate-brown eyes rolling into the back of her head as she moaned. Adem cut her off now and again to kiss her, so that the pretty little noises were supped from her swollen lips.

"Uhhhh... Huhhhh... Hmmmm! Mmmm! Ahhhh... A-Adem, yessss... Force, don't stop..."

"Gods, Rey! You're so tight! And wet!"

"For... for you..." Rey groaned. Her nails were now digging almost painfully into Adem's rippling buttocks.

Adem's slams were progressively growing weaker and weaker, beads of sweat pouring into his eyes.

"Rey, love, I'm close -"

He made to pull out, which was the gentlemanly and safe thing to do, but Rey wasn't having it. Tightening her grip on his bum, she wrapped her legs around his torso and clamped down hard, keeping him there.

"You're not going anywhere," she growled fiercely, cheeks aflame. "You are going to come hard inside me. And you can stay as long as you like. And if we make a baby, I wouldn't mind at all. I want your child deep inside me..."

"Oh, Mother of Mortis!" Adem cried out as Rey's walls clenched tightly around him and her toes curled. Back arching, she kept him pinned to her, impaled on her as with a final and feeble slam, Adem spilt all he had into her.

Rey's giggle quickly turned into a scream silenced with a fierce kiss from Adem, so that she let out a vicious squeal around his mouth as she too orgasmed.

The handsome Stormtrooper collapsed on top of her, red hair matted and falling into his goregous blue eyes. Brown curls also plastered to her forehead, Rey drew and held her lover close, feeling his lips lightly kiss each of the pebbled nipples on her breasts before the pair fell asleep in each other's arms.

Second to her wedding night, it was the best damn sex Rey had ever had in her entire life.


	11. Secrets of Ben Solo

**Chapter 11: Secrets of Ben Solo**

The Geonosian transport blasted out of hyperspace right into atmo, dipping beneath the stormy, overcast clouds to glide over the churning sea. Kamino was almost entirely covered by water, with the only land artificially created by chrome landing platforms connected by skywalk bridges. The architecture looked like islands, standing tall as sentinels in the middle of the frothing waves and buffetted by the wind and rain.

Finn peered out from the open side panel, hood low over his eyes. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

"Relax, boys. We'll just get in, get what we need and get out," Poe, who was driving, called from the cockpit. He taxied them low onto the slick durasteel of one platform and cut the engines before following Finn, Neek'o, and Snap Wexley out into the downpour. Blinking rain droplets out of his eyes, Poe led the way up to the glass-plated hydraulic doors. Behind him, Finn voiced,

"Do we have, like, decent ID docs to enter this thing...?" The doors simply whooshed open for them.

Neek'o raised an eyebrow. "Kaminoans must be pretty friendly to have no security."

"Their work has always been freely shared, for those lucky enough to find this place," Poe called back. Squishing into the whitewashed corridors, the general pulled out a scanner and cast it around the spacious hallway. "During the Clone Wars, the planet was wiped off most star charts, and for good reason: this is where the Clone Army of the Republic was commissioned and built." He frowned. "Now, according to the intelligence report I received, the payload should be... this way." He headed to his left.

"So, what exactly are we here for, anyway?" Snap gruffed, his jelly gut bouncing with his heavy tread as he brought up the rear.

"Something pertinent to the First Order. The components of a potential biological weapon that needs to be destroyed."

"Won't the Kaminoans be pissed when we destroy their work?" Finn wondered.

"According to the intelligence I received, the Kaminoans merely stored it; they didn't create it." Another hydraulic door parted for them, and the quartet stepped through, swaying to a halt when they laid eyes on what was inside.

Thousands upon thousands of glass vials stacked on shelves from floor to ceiling as far as the eye could see.

Neek'o drifted up to Poe's side, eyes huge. "What is this place? A storage room for clone parts?"

"This isn't for clones..." Snap muttered low, as he studied a row of vials next to him. "It's a DNA bank."

Wandering down the maze of rows, the four men peered at the multitude of vials.

"Here's another row of DNA!" Finn called.

"And this row contains... sperm," Neek'o reported.

Snap scrutinized the labels with fascination. "And they are all labeled the same... so they must all, whether DNA code or sperm, belong to the same person..." He squinted, then his beady eyes bulged. "Ben Solo." He lost his breath. "The First Order has all the tools at its disposal to make thousands more Kylo Rens."

Finn shivered. "So, it really is like cloning without doing the, you know, actual cloning."

Poe worried his bottom lip. "A contingency plan, in case the Supreme Leader went down. And there will be acolytes coming after this..."

Snap turned to the team. "We have to destroy it."

Neek'o happily held up a wad of thermal detonators in each hand, tossing a few to Finn. "Let's set the charges. Place them row by row, three to an aisle."

But Poe hesitated. Drifting close to a row that contained hundreds of vials with Ben's sperm, he thought of Rey, the man's grieving widow. Had Ben lived, would they have wanted to start a family together? Probably. And he, Poe, had been the one to deny them that dream.

Yet maybe...

"Think we'll have enough?" Snap was saying behind him and off to his right, as he stooped at the other end of the aisle to set the charges.

"Does it matter?" Neek'o's voice wafted over. "The chain reaction will bring the whole place down. It should, anyway."

Impulsively, Poe snatched up two vials of Ben's sperm and stuffed them into his cloak. Busy setting the thermal detonators, neither Snap nor Neek'o noticed.

But Finn did notice.

Eyes wide, Poe infintesimally shook his head and raised a finger to his lips, eyes pleading. Finn cocked a ruffled eyebrow, but said nothing. Soon, Snap and Neek'o rejoined them. Poe hung his hands limply at his side.

"All set?"

Snap grinned eagerly as he passed Poe the remote. "Care to do the honors, General?"

"Back to the ship," Poe nodded. "We'll blow it sky-high from there."

Returning to the Genosian transport, as Finn lifted off, Poe pressed the button, and watched as the entire landing platform went up in little mushroom clouds. The entire structure, including the skywalk bridges collapsed to the sea and sank beneath the waves.

Sighing, Poe's free hand fingered the two tiny glass vials in his pocket...

* * *

Arriving safely back on Ajan Kloss, Poe and his men greeted Rey and Adem warmly, whom had beaten them back home by a handful of day cycles. The Jedi passed her general a data chip containing the medical files for everyone involved in the First Order.

"Neek'o and Finn should be able to find any answers they want in there," she told the pilot. "But my advice would be leave the choice of what they want to know up to them."

Poe nodded slowly. "And the Sterilization Implant?"

Rey pursed her lips tightly. "Our theory wasn't correct. The truth should be Adem's to tell."

Poe studied her curiously. "I see." His face relaxed into a smile. "Well, how about you lot join us for a drink at the Cabana after your shift in the hangar? The Ticos will be there, too. My treat!"

Rey smiled tiredly. "Sounds fabulous."

That night, Poe, Neek'o, Rey, Adem and Finn and Rose gathered at the counter of the cabana bar, talking and laughing.

"I've never been to an asteroid field before. Only flown through, but still..." Rose chittered to Rey. "What's it like?"

Rey smirked. "Cold, desolate. Gald to be rid of that place, weren't we, love?"

"Quite," Adem smiled gently at her. Beaming at him, Rey laced her fingers through his and pecked his lips without another thought.

The effect on the rest of the counter was instantaneous and incredible. Poe's blue milk dribbled out onto the polished mahogany wood, the coconut shell raised halfway to his lips. Next to him, Finn was clenching the underside of the table, staring Adem down protectively.

Breaking apart gently, Rey and Adem remembered they had an audience and flushed furiously.

"When the bloody kriff did this happen?" Neek'o almost bellowed to no one in particular.

Rose squealed. "Spill. Now!"

Rey giggled. "It's all been a little fast, but... we kissed and..."

"Rey Solo, were you drunk?" Finn demanded.

"Finny!" Rose squeaked in mortification, smacking at her husband. "What a thing to say! Rey's a grown woman who knows what she wants."

"She's also pretty much my baby sister," Finn growled, rounding on Adem. "So, if you hurt her..."

"I'll do right by her. You have my word."

Finn nodded stiffly, satisfied.

Chuckling, Poe now took Neek'o's hand as they women darted over to a nearby table, chittering. "Well, if we're in the business of sharing life-altering news... Neek'o and I have decided we want to start a family."

His words floating over to them, Rose and Rey stopped gossiping to squeak happily.

"You mean you're getting married?" Finn's face broke out into a beaming smile.

"Not yet, there's still so much work to do. But..." Neek'o blushed. "We've been living together, and we both have talked it through."

"What will you do?" Rey drifted back over to them. "Adoption is always an available route..."

"Yeah, orphanages will be full of displaced children from the war!" Rose chimed in.

Poe nodded. "While we'd love to help, Neek'o and I would prefer to have our own flesh-and-blood child through surrogacy... preferably with the birth mother being someone we know."

Rey and Rose looked at each other. Poe nodded again. "We are actively considering both of you, if you would have us."

Rose's eyes filled with tears. "I'd be so thrilled if you asked me." Gnawing at her bottom lip, Rey was more quiet. She turned to Poe thoughtfully.

"The baby would come from your sperm, wouldn't it?"

Behind his partner, Neek'o nodded heavily. "It would have to." Smiling sadly at him, Rey started when Poe suddenly took her hand.

"Could I have a word?"

"Yeah," she blinked, following him a short distance away. In a darkened alcove, Poe turned to her.

"Just so you know, you're Neek'o's and my first choice. Rose would be a back-up, but we already know we want to have more than one, so eventually, we would be honored to ask her as well. Of course, whether or not you want to do it, that's your call. We'll respect your wishes either way."

Rey glanced at him uncertainly. "Can I think about it? I'd like to talk it over with Adem."

Poe gave her a teasing smile. "Things are serious, then."

She turned pink. "Things are wonderful so far. As to whether they become permanent... possibly."

"Well, I'm happy for you. And..." Poe dug into his cloak. "I have something for you." And he handed her the two vials. Rey held them to the light, frowning in bemusement.

"What is it?"

"The potential bio-weapon we found when we got to Kamino; it was filled with vials of Ben's DNA and sperm."

At this, Rey's heart started to beat very fast. _Ben_...

"We destroyed the lot, except for these two vials of his sperm that I smuggled out." When she gazed at him, in utter shock, he could only shrug. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing; Finn was the only one who saw me. I just thought... if you wanted to have the opportunity to have Ben's baby, you still should. Something to remember him by. Kalonia could arrange an appointment for IVF." At her blank stare, Poe amended, "In-vitro fertilization." Watching Rey peer at the vials with fluttering hope, he chuckled. "I have a feeling I know whose baby you'd prefer to have..."

"Hmmm," Rey mused with a soft smile. "Jury's still out." At his blink of surprise, she chuckled and then quite suddenly kissed the corner of his mouth. When she drew back, her eyes were wet. "Poe Dameron, you really have changed. Thank you."

Poe beamed. "You're welcome."

* * *

In her nightdress in front of her vanity that night, Rey studied the two glass vials held protectively in the stand of her make-up kit - a gift from Rose. Poe's words played back over and over again in her mind. She was now at a crossroads.

She and Poe had made their peace with each other, but the hurt and anger over his hand in her husband's death still festered. Poe had seemed to gamely resign himself to whatever resentment Rey harbored towards him for that, but now his act of kindness had muddied the waters. With all that had been presented to her this evening, Rey was at a crossroads. Without the vials, Rey might have dismissed Poe's request out of hand and let Rosie have her chance at motherhood, albeit from afar. Yet even with them, Rey still wasn't sure, as the memory of her husband loomed...

In life, Ben had hated the cocksure pilot, and with good reason. Poe had tried to keep them apart, and tortured them both before finally resorting to manslaughter. Wouldn't Rey be dishonoring the memory of her fallen spouse if she agreed to bear the child of his murderer? And what did that kind of act imply? Did it imply a forgiveness that she thought she would never reach - that she knew she shouldn't reach?

Tormented, Rey rose from her vanity and fell to her knees, kneeling before the Force in prayer.

"Ben..." her eyes closed with her whisper. "Be with me... Be with me... Be with me..." She reached out towards their Bond.

There was no answer, as much as she still held hope that he would respond to her call someday, whether as a ghost or in her dreams. Rey remained genuflected, eyes shut as happy memories with her husband swam behind her closed eyelids.

She stirred, shivering in delight, when she felt a pair of lips dip a kiss into the soft curve of her neck.

"You think too much," Adem's voice rumbled playfully. "Come to bed."

Rising to her feet, Rey smiled at him as she craned back to kiss him on the lips. Her mouth quickly parted to grant his tongue entrance, and the kiss soon grew heated enough that Adem swept Rey off her feet and carried her grandly over to their bed.

It hadn't taken too much deciding to ask Adem to move in with her, when they arrived home from Polis Massa. Adem had arrived on base with only a scant few possessions and the clothes on his back, so the blending of their lives had been simple. And it leant to easily accessible, volcanic sex, as deposited on the pillows, Rey eagerly opened her knees to him, trembling as Adem curled back the hem of her frilly nightgown. But as he made to crawl on top of her, Rey cheekily smirked and suddenly flipped them, swinging one long and creamy leg over his waist as she languidly moved to straddle him. Shrugging her gown off her shoulders, she let her breasts hang free, satisfied at the choking sound Adem made when he realized she wasn't wearing a bra band.

Growling, seizing her smart little buttocks in his fists, Adem rutted against her. Throwing her head to the sky and moaning, Rey furiously rocked back, humping her hips against his. She dipped her head to lazily kiss him as Adem's fingers palmed her breasts, so that her nipples stirred to a peak under his touch.

"Force, love, you're soaking wet! Gods, I want to fuck you!"

Against his lips, Rey smirked. "So fuck me!" she hissed, her voice more growl than Basic.

Shoving his sleep pants to his ankles, Adem took her fiercely, ramming up into her and moaning as her wet walls clenched tight around him. Resting her hands lightly on his chest, Rey frantically bounced up and down on his cock, kissing him until she couldn't stop, sliding her tongue in and out of his mouth.

"Urrrrrr... Hurrrrrr... Ooooooh... Ahhhhh... Hmmm... Mmmm... Adem, Force, I'm - I'm gonna cum, love. Oh, Force, I'm cumming - don't bloody stop!"

Toes curling to the ceiling, Rey shuddered violently as she came all around him with a happy scream. Adem quickly followed with a grunt.

Panting, Rey rolled off her lover and curled into his side. "Maker, I love how you shag me!" she managed breathlessly.

Adem chuckled low, kissing her swollen breasts. "What did Poe want to talk to you about?" he murmured.

"Hmm," Rey snuggled deeper against him. "He's considering asking me to be his and Neek'o's surrogate. Rosie is also a candidate."

"Both fine choices, I'm sure," Adem praised. He grew quiet though as he reached the same conclusion that had also been on her mind all evening. "Of course, there is the elephant in the room..."

Rey nodded. She had told Adem the whole sad tale of her doomed first marriage, and Poe's hand in ending it, that first night after they made love on the _Falcon_. "If I agreed to do this for him and Neek'o... would I be dishonoring Ben? Would I be granting forgiveness for something I shouldn't?"

Adem's large fingers drummed over her arm lightly. "Do you want to grant Poe your forgiveness? For killing Ben?"

Rey stared at him, her brown eyes pained but uncertain. "I... I don't know."

Adem shrugged. "The choice is yours. It's a question only you can answer, love." He cleared his throat, sitting up in bed. "And... speaking of questions..." his voice wobbled as he dug for something in his pocket. "You can tell me if it's too soon..."

Seeing the gold catch the light, both of Rey's hands went to her mouth as she gasped in astonishment. "Oh, my Maker..." she croaked, her voice thick with tears.

"But I love you, and I want to be with you, and I am thrilled that you seem to feel the same about me..."

"Oh my _Maker_..." Rey whimpered, fighting back tears.

Adem held the ring out to her shyly. "Will you marry me, Rey Solo?" At her pondering silence, he continued, "I know you might not want to take my name. I'll still ask if it's one you want to share. I know my father was a horrible man, but -"

"Of course, yes," Rey whispered.

Adem stuttered to a stop. "What?"

Rey beamed tearfully. "Yes, Adem, I'll marry you. And I'd be proud to share your name. Not because it's your father's, but because it's _you_." Beaming, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him lightly. "But..." she murmured, drumming her fingers along his jawline. "I think I'd like to hyphenate it. Rey Solo-Hux."

Adem grinned, shyly slipping the ring on her finger as Rey held out her hand. "I thought you might say that."

She blinked, giggling in surprise. "You did?"

Adem shrugged. "Ben will always be a part of you. I know you'll want to honor that."

Radiant, Rey kissed him again. "I love you."

He just smirked. "I know."

"And... I think I've made my decision," Rey conclude softly.

"To marry me? Of course you did," Adem laughed.

"No," Rey smiled at her fiancé softly. "Something else." Reaching for her holoprojector, she clicked it open. "Poe? It's Rey. I have a few things to tell you..."

* * *

"Oh, Rey... you look so beautiful..."

"He's a really lucky guy..."

"I'll say - handsome too! I wonder how many times he can go in one night?..."

"Rey, sweetie, sit still and let me finish your hair!" Rose, the Matron of Honor, rang a brush through Rey's chestnut bangs.

Rey tuned out the chittering of her bridesmaids as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. On this, her second wedding day, she looked like a graceful swan in the silky bridal gown now adorned across her shoulders. When she and Ben had wed, she had gotten married in her white Jedi robes. It should naturally feel different to wear something new as she married again to another man, and it was probably simply better that way. Though a simple girl in her tastes, Rey had been thrilled and pleased when Adem, her husband-to-be, had gifted her with credits to spend the day shopping for the right dress on Coruscant. She, Rose, Kaydel and her other bridesmaids had made a day trip of it, having a splendid time.

Escorting the bride out of her rooms, Rose had all the girls line up as the wedding march began to play outside the tiny military chapel. Smiling at her own husband, looking dashing in a three-piece suit, Rose pecked Finn's cheek as she stood to prepare her walk down the aisle.

Fighting back tears, Finn managed, "You look stunning, Rey."

She smiled tearfully. "Thank you, Finny."

The wedding march began to play, and Finn offered her his arm. Blushing, Rey looped her elbow through his, and allowed her best friend to escort her down the aisle as she remarried.

At the altar, Neek'o at his side, stood Adem, looking strapping in a tuxedo. His fiery red hair was slicked back (making Rey remember how handsome he had been the night of the Ticos' wedding reception, when she and he had danced), the long strands tamed back into a ponytail. As Rey advanced to her future, she sent up a prayer to the first man she had married: "Ben Solo, I'll love you till the day I die," she whispered.

Passing Rey off to Adem, Finn hustled into the front pew as the Holy Man blessed the couple. Nervously, Rey took her future husband's hand and gazed deep into his eyes whilst they exchanged rings and vows. And as she peered deep into his entrancing, ice-blue eyes, she knew that for the second time in her life, she could say that she had a husband she loved, and who loved her in return.

 _I love you_ , she thought, staring at him. _But if we're gonna make this work, you have to be more than ADM-4548. You know that... don't you?_

"...as long as you both shall live?" the Holy Man asked.

"I do," Adem beamed.

"I do," Rey smiled back.

Upon being pronounced husband and wife, Adem bent and softly kissed her, Rey's eyes fluttering shut in bliss. She had no more doubts as she and her new husband embraced and kissed. There was only Adem, and the sound of fireworks in the distance which Poe had set off. Rey clutched at her new husband closer, deepening the kiss with a happy sigh.

When the newlyweds broke their wedding kiss at last to cheers, a jubilant Adem picked Rey up and spun her around. She clung to him, laughing musically, and when he set her down, his radiant, beaming, blushing bride smushed his face in her hands and kissed him passionately. Drawing away, smiling into each other's eyes, the couple raced back up the aisle to well-wishers and headed for the reception hall, where they waltzed in each other's arms all evening...

* * *

She and Ben had never had a proper honeymoon, so Rey enjoyed spending a romantic week exploring the galaxy with her new husband. Adem took her on a grand tour of all the most luxurious worlds. They visited the waterfalls of Tython, cliff-diving from the rocks above and skinny-dipping in the pools below. They went sight-seeing along the streets of Coruscant. On sunlit days, Rey would open her knees and let Adem make love to her for hours on end in the meadow grasses of Naboo.

It was a beautiful feeling, to be married again.

* * *

A few days after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon, Rey arrived back home at their Ajan Kloss apartment to find her husband completing packing. Standing on tiptoes to give him a kiss in greeting, Rey raised her eyebrow. "What's all this? I feel like we just unpacked everything."

Adem shrugged. "Poe has sent me out on a mission. There's a squadron of Stormtroopers who have been attempting an uprising on Ryloth. They'll need reinforcements to be liberated. Poe asked me to lead a strike team."

Rey's lips pursed into a thin line as she frowned. Then, turning on her heel, she flounced out of the apartment. Sighing, Adem dithered after her. Only a couple weeks of marriage, a few months knowing her, and he was already well-familiar with that look: his wife was not pleased. He didn't manage to catch up with her until they had reached the hangar bay. "Rey... it wasn't exactly a friendly request. Orders are orders..." He hurried his pace to keep up with Rey's long strides. "At least let me say goodbye..."

"Goodbye," she cast over her shoulder, the word short and clipped.

"We haven't had a chance to discuss -"

"I'll be waiting for your holo-message when you get in," she informed him cooly. Rey felt him grab her arm, turn her to face him.

"Well, then... goodbye."

For a brief moment, she regarded him silently. Then, as she turned to walk away, Adem pulled her back, cupped her face in his hands and pushed his lips fiercely against hers in a passionate kiss.

"Mmmmm..." Rey gasped into Adem's mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed instantly, though it took a moment for her body to catch up and also swoon in surrendering acceptance. She stiffened at first, then relaxed into the kiss, returning and deepening it as her hand found itself gently cupping his elbow.

At last, Adem and Rey broke apart with a pronounced smacking sound that echoed a little in the hangar. Adem's lips captured Rey's once more, very gently, before he finally drew away.

Maker, even when she was mad at him (well, all right, she was actually mad at Poe), Rey loved kissing her husband. This kiss reminded her of their very first, wild one in the _Falcon_.

For a moment, they both stood there, panting.

"Try to understand..." his voice was gentle.

"I am trying," Rey huffed, the frustration lacing her voice.

"We always knew more troopers would defect. Finn, Neek'o and I need to be ready to transition them back into society."

"At least let me go with you!" Rey begged. "I'm a Jedi, I can help."

"No," Adem smiled at her sadly. "I floated up the idea to Poe, but he wouldn't have it. Though I have no doubt you could handle yourself, a mission like this is particularly dangerous. Stay here, honey. You'll be safe."

Rey whimpered. "Adem!" she cried. She could not do more beyond say his name before she was hugging him.

Stepping back and kissing his wife goodbye lightly, Adem smiled. "I won't be long." And he headed for his transport.

* * *

It was only a week or so later when Adem Solo-Hux successfully returned from his mission to Ryloth, a healthy batch of free Stormtroopers in tow to help the Resistance effort. Seeing his wife tinkering with a nearby Corellian Corvette, he snuck up behind her and hugged her around the waist.

Sensing the familiar presence spike in the Force, Rey squealed and thrashed in the embrace, not entirely certain who it was as Adem dragged her back into a darkened alcove where they could be alone. There, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her breathless, rutting his pelvis along the space between her spread legs and dry-humping her.

"Mmmmhmmmm..." Moaning, thrusting out her hips, Rey furiously gyrated back, even as she and her husband broke their frantic kiss and she hugged him around the neck, burying her face into his fiery hair. Days of separation had taken a toll on the young Jedi. "Oh, Adem..."

"I missed you, Rey..."

She shivered in the circle of his arms. "There were whispers... that you'd been killed. I've been living with unbearable dread." She clung to him, as if to assure herself that she was real.

Adem sent her an easy, lopsided smile. "I'm all right." Kissing her hair, he knew and understood why she would be fretting for his safety. The pain of being a widow at not quite 20 must have been so difficult for her. Though proposing to her was one of Adem's happiest memories, he knew that his wife had been hesitant to marry again. The thought of remarriage, only to have her second husband leave her suddenly or be killed in action, no doubt had frightened her.

Rey weakly smiled back and burrowed back into Adem's arms, wanting him close. But when he dove back in for another kiss, she laughed brightly and twisted away. "Patience, my handsome Stormtrooper. Come to me later."

Adem just pinned her to the wall and ravished her lips, holding her close. When the shock of their desperate kiss faded, he could feel Rey trembling in his embrace. "What is it?"

"I have a surprise for you," Rey grinned nervously. Running her hands up and down his muscular arms, she studied his chest contemplatively for a moment before she announced, "The in-vitro fertilization worked for surrogacy. Adem... I'm pregnant."

Adem stared at her. "You got pregnant? With Poe and Neek'o's baby?"

Biting her lip to hide her beaming smile, Rey nodded. "I had wanted to wait to have the appointment until you were home, so we could go together. But I know we had discussed it and agreed and... Hmmm..."

Her adorable rambling was cut off by Adem swooping down and kissing her again. When he released her at last, he was all smiles, though his eyes were wet. "Congratulations. This is such happy news. I love you."


	12. Babies

**Chapter 12: Babies**

"AHHHH! Holy Force, Poe Dameron, you are gonna pay for this!"

It was crowded in the delivery room, about ten month cycles later. Rey was sitting up in bed, doubled over, her feet in stirrups and swearing like a spice runner high on deathsticks. Adem Solo-Hux gamely held his wife's hand, but fought the urge to wince. He knew that Rey could whip up a bit of a temper; perhaps he should have been more prepared for that once she went into labor. If she was this cantankerous serving as a surrogate to Neek'o and Poe, he did not want to imagine what she would say or do while perhaps someday bringing their own little bundle of joy into the galaxy.

Bearing down on another contraction, Rey sat back with a huff. "I don't even know why I agreed to this..." she grumbled. It would have been adorable if it wasn't also so scary.

Leaning against one wall, Finn chuckled. "Little late for that." She sent him a withering glare.

Rose had the presence of mind to actually answer the question, smoothing back the plastered bangs on Rey's forehead. "Because you are an incredibly loving and generous person and Ben would be proud of you."

Even though she was happily remarried, hearing the name of her first husband was like a magic word for Rey. She brightened up, if only a little, the ghost of a smile sneaking its way onto her face. Ben would be proud of her, wouldn't he? Even if he had never particularly liked Dameron, the biological father.

At this present moment, Rey didn't either, as another contraction ripped through her. "Your balls are mine when I get out of this, Poe! DAMN YOU!"

Seated in chairs at Rey's beside, Neek'o was deeply amused, whereas Poe appeared legitimately fearful. "You'll protect me from her, right?" he turned to his friend's husband.

Adem only let out a strained giggle though the tight teeth of his grimace. "Sorry, bub. You're out of luck."

"The baby is crowning, Master Jedi!" Dr. Kalonia called, who was serving as the midwife. "PUSH!"

Rey bore down with an agonizing scream, then another as with a final heave, the large baby boy came shrieking into the world. Kalonia quickly whisked him away to clean him upon the umbilical cord being cut (Neek'o performed that honor).

At last returned to his fathers, Poe could only hold his son - named Kitt - with abject wonder. Turning to the woman who had birthed him, who was biologically speaking the mother of his child - a woman who had once vowed to hate him and leave him unforgiven for the rest of her days and his - he could only nod in deep respect, too overcome with emotion. "Rey... thank you. For my son."

Rey herself appeared surprisingly pensive as she nodded slowly. "You're welcome," she expressed conciliatorally.

* * *

The Damerons' election to permantly settle on Ajan Kloss came as a surprising, but welcome, decision. For Rey, it was a great relief, as she was able to watch her biological son from afar. She had never had any doubt that Poe and Neek'o would be able parents, which they proved every day.

So, it also came as a surprise when, only six months after giving birth to Kit, Rey made the decision to become pregnant again - this time through in-vitro fertilization so she could have the baby of Ben Solo, her dearly departed first husband. The move seemed a little soon to many, and if it was spurned by a case of post-partum depression, neither Rey nor Adem let on. The vials containing Ben's sperm had been entrusted to Dr. Kalonia in a frozen sperm bank, shortly before the couple got married. Both vials were ultimately injected into Rey.

Rey was overjoyed to find out that both sperm had fertilized with her eggs, so that she was carrying twins. Though the children being brought to term were once again not his, Adem catered to her every whim dutifully.

Finally, when little Kitt Dameron was only fifteen month cycles old, Rey spent the better part of a long night giving birth to her and Ben's twins: a boy and a girl whom she named Jacen and Jaina.

All of her friends came by to congratulate her, including the Damerons and the Ticos. Little Kitt was starting to utter simple words, including Rey's name. He was beginning to identify her as somewhere between an aunt and motherly figure; someday, Poe promised, the truth would be told to him about what he was to her.

Once the twins had been taken down to the NICU, a tired but happy Rey turned to the pilot. "Can I talk with you alone?"

Poe blinked. "Sure," he agreed, passing Kitt off to Neek'o. Once the pilot and Jedi were by themselves, Rey all at once took his hand, tears in her eyes.

"I forgive you. For all of it."

Poe's jaw dropped. Maybe Rey was still feeling the effects of the birthing drugs, but all the same, he hadn't expected this. "Really? Even for...?"

She nodded. "I think your penance has been paid. You're the reason I was even able to have Ben's baby. And... I am proud to be the birth mother of your child."

There was a loud sniff, which Poe wiped away noisily on his sleeve. Squeezing her hand, all he could manage was, "Thank you."

* * *

Rey had watched her husband, over these past two months. With Kitt, they hadn't needed to worry about their homelife changing forever, but now with Jacen and Jaina, their little apartment on base was becoming crowded and busy. Adem raised and cared for the twins as though they were his own. He had passionately understood why Rey had not wanted to waste this chance to have something of her first husband to remember him by. Adem deserved to have the same opportunity, to parent a child that was his in all ways...

And so it was, as they cuddled up in bed and watching Rey's two-month old babies sleeping in the bassinet, she blurted out, "Adem, I want another baby."

With his wife curled into the crook of his arm, Adem glanced down at her surprise. Rey just smiled up at him, content and sure. The grin growing impish, she pushed Adem flat on his back and languidly moved to straddle him. Rocking her center against his hips, she felt him tent and stir at her touch with a moan.

"Rey..."

She just smirked with excitement and bent down to tenderly kiss him. "You've been so patient and supportive of me. Now it's your turn. Let's make a baby."

And together, she and her husband spent hours upon hours making sweet love...

Adem's patience was quickly rewarded. Rey fell pregnant once again almost immediately, to the shock of nearly all their extended family and friends. With Jacen and Jaina's first birthday fast approaching, Rey went into labor for what she maintained was the third and final time. Like Kitt before, it was not an easy birth.

Adem, the proud and expecting papa at last, paced nervously outside his wife's rooms with only Poe, Neek'o and Finn's jokes, Rose's soothing words for company. When the midwife finally emerged into the hallway to admit him, and confident that the twins were in fine care with their friends, Adem dashed in to see his wife.

Rey was sitting up in the bed, face scrunched and red-faced, as it had been for the last 11 hour cycles. The tears slipped past her eyelids and down her cheeks and Adem quickly pecked them away, diving for her face, her cheeks, her lips.

"Mmmm... I'm - I'm sorry," she whimpered, as her husband finished kissing her. "I - Hmmmm... I didn't want to leave you out there..."

"It's all right, love," Adem expressed, squeezing her hand. "Just focus on what you need to do."

"Are you ready, Mrs. Solo-Hux?" the delivery nurse asked.

Gripping Adem's hand like a vice, she nodded. "Yes."

"OK... PUSH!"

Rey nearly crushed her poor husband's hand as she growled, bearing down. Off and on, this continued for another hour cycle until at last, with a final shout, Rey slid the baby out of her.

"It's a girl," the midwife's voice broke through the haze. An exhausted smile working its way onto her face, Rey and her husband beamed into each other's eyes as they leaned in and kissed.

"Bridget?" Rey confirmed the name her husband had picked out weeks ago.

Adem tearfully nodded, kissing her lips again. "Rey, thank you so much. You're amazing. I... I love you."

Playing with the nape of his neck, Rey softly touched her lips to his again. "I love you too, you handsome man." Seeing his lovesick expression, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Want to let our friends in? Finny looks like he's ready to bust down the door."

"I'll go get them," Adem laughed, moving into the hallway.


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Rey giggled as Bridget squirmed in her arms, futilely resisting her mother's attempts to fit a warm wooly hat on her head. Winter had seem to come to Ajan Kloss suddenly that year, displacing the tropically temperate summer and even autumn with an initial snowfall and temperatures that were borderline nippy.

"Your daughter is ready, if also a little cranky," Rey called to her husband in the next room. "How are you doing with Thing 1 and Thing 2?"

Adem, her husband of four years, emerged from their room with Jacen and Jainia, the almost three-year-old twins. They were both chittering each other in some made-up language only they could understand, from their perches in the baby backpack now strapped to Adem's chest. Slung across his shoulders was Jaina, while Jacen was in a hoist across his stepfather's chest.

Peering at her love and their children, Rey couldn't help but giggle, smile bright and happy. "You look ridiculous."

Adem chuckled in good fun. "No one's supposed to look comfortable in this, never mind sexy, love." Slipping an arm about her waist and pulling her close, he softly kissed his wife on the lips. Rey's mouth upturned against his in a soft smile. Nestled between them, Jacen tried to tug on the wooly hat of his younger sister, who squawked in indignation. Rey and Adem broke their kiss with giggles.

"Come on, we're supposed to meet Poe, Neek'o and Kitt out in the meadow."

"They were going to greet the Ticos at the landing platform then?" Adem asked, as the whole motley crew wrestled their way out of the Solo-Hux apartment.

"Yup." Rey checked her wristchrono. "The transport from Solaris should be landing just about now... Finny told me in his last holocall that she's really excited."

"I should think so!" Adem slung an arm over his wife's shoulder. "It will be her first time seeing the baby, since the delivery."

The little family headed through the jungle trees, marveling at the white powder clinging to the tops of the canopy. Rey had never experienced snow as a little girl on Jakku, and her first time witnessing the phenomenon - during her and Adem's first months of marriage - had filled her with a childlike wonder that her husband still recalled fondly.

Emerging from the jungle treeline and onto the meadow dotted with frost, Rey caught sight of a dark-skinned man and tan-skinned woman, helping two men and a little boy lay out the expansive picnic blanket. Keeping a tight grip on Bridget at her hip, she loped across the permafrosted meadow grasses with a cry of delight as she lunged herself into Finn's arms.

"Hey there, little Jedi!" Finn rumbled as Rey broke away to side-hug Rose with a happy squeal.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here!" Poe chortled, shaking hands with Adem as he cackled with laughter. "Got the Daddy Day Care down, eh, Hux?"

Adem just grinned good-naturedly. "Hardly." He didn't really bristle at all at his surname anymore. Overtime, he had come to reclaim it as something good, in his work alongside Finn to re-introduce freed and defected Stormtroopers into larger galactic society. Rey was very proud of him for it, and would always be happy with herself that she had agreed to partially take his name. That sense of identity meant something to the man she loved, as much as having a last name had always meant something to her.

Dancing around Poe and Adem, Rose's eyes were only for the little bundle in Neek'o's arms. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure," Neek'o smiled brightly. "Careful, though, she's sleeping."

Rose handled the little pink bundle gamely, kissing the tanned forehead that so resembled her own.

When the time had come, a year ago, for Poe and Neek'o to have another baby, they had approached Rose to be their surrogate. Having come to accept the painful fact that she and her husband would never have children of their own, Rose had jumped at the chance, and three months ago, Paige Dameron had been born. Rose, the proud birth mother, had been moved to tears when the Damerons had announced they would be naming their daughter after Rose's sister - the child's biological aunt. Leaving the little girl behind to return to their home on Solaris had been hard for Rose, but holocalls had made up the distance, and Rey knew she would want to visit little Paige whenver she could.

As Rey turned away from her extended family to place Bridget down on the blnaket, looking back over the meadow, she saw - or thought she saw - a blue and translucent figure staring at her lovingly from amidst the gentle snow flurries. At that precise moment, she felt a surge in the hole in her heart where the Bond with her deceased husband used to be...

Seeing the blue figure catch the sunlight peeking through the overcast clouds, Rey smiled. In the end, Ben had been right all along - love would be what would save them, was all that would save them. And although he hadn't lived to see the best of his days, grow old with her and raise the twins now playing on the picnic blanket, in a way, love had saved her and Ben. And Rey now had a large, extended family, and had found another man who loved her - and whom she loved in return - just as much as her first husband had.

With that comfort in mind, Rey smoothed out the skirts of her sundress as she sat down to enjoy the picnic.


End file.
